The Air Force said yesterday that an initial investigation suggested that human error may have caused last Friday's F-5F crash in Hsinchu County that killed four people and injured nine others.
"We determined that our pilots ignored the aircraft's position and height as they were maneuvering the jetfighter for a bombing exercise," said Major General Liu Chen-wu (
"However, a mechanical malfunction could also be the cause because the pilots had the opportunity to correct their error with the full thrust of their engine but they did not do so. We need to figure out why," he said.
Liu made the remarks when he briefed lawmakers at the legislature's National Defense Committee yesterday morning.
He said that no matter what caused the crash, the preliminary investigation confirmed that the pilots tried to spare as many lives as possible by staying with their plane and steering it away from populated areas.
Liu said that Air Force investigators discovered that the F-5F was headed toward the center of Hukou Township (
The pilots definitely had the chance to eject but they decided not to and piloted the craft toward a nearby military complex in an apparent bid to minimize damages, Liu said.
"I do not think it is difficult to figure out what the pilots were trying to do," he said.
Chinese Nationalist Party Legislator Lin Yu-fang (林郁芳) criticized the military for ignoring the maintenance of older planes such as the F-5 series. He said the military only cares about buying new weapons, not about spending money on maintenance.
Liu told Lin that maintenance was important, noting that of the 11 Mirage-2000 single-seat fighters in the Air Force, five are on stand-by while the rest are under maintenance. There are 33 two-seater Mirages in service all the time, he said, while the rest are undergoing maintenance.
"I must say, I am not satisfied with the figures but, I must also say that our maintenance for aircraft remains normal," Liu said.
Taiwan used to have 60 Mirage-2000s -- 48 two-seaters and 12 single-seat aircraft -- but three of the two-seaters and a single-seat Mirage have been lost in crashes since 1999.
Two Taiwanese pilots were killed in Friday's crash along with two members of Singapore's armed forces on the ground.
President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday criticized the nuclear energy referendum scheduled for Saturday next week, saying that holding the plebiscite before the government can conduct safety evaluations is a denial of the public’s right to make informed decisions. Lai, who is also the chairman of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), made the comments at the party’s Central Standing Committee meeting at its headquarters in Taipei. ‘NO’ “I will go to the ballot box on Saturday next week to cast a ‘no’ vote, as we all should do,” he said as he called on the public to reject the proposition to reactivate the decommissioned
US President Donald Trump on Friday said that Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) told him China would not invade Taiwan while Trump is in office. Trump made the remarks in an interview with Fox News, ahead of talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin over Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. “I will tell you, you know, you have a very similar thing with President Xi of China and Taiwan, but I don’t believe there’s any way it’s going to happen as long as I’m here. We’ll see,” Trump said during an interview on Fox News’ Special Report. “He told me: ‘I will never do
The Legislative Yuan yesterday approved an aid and recovery package authorizing the government to allocate up to NT$60 billion (US$1.99 billion) for regions hit by Typhoon Danas and subsequent torrential rains last month. Proposed by the Executive Yuan on Aug. 7, the bill was passed swiftly after ruling and opposition lawmakers reached a consensus in inter-party talks on relief funding and assistance for disaster-stricken areas. The package increases the government’s spending cap from the originally proposed NT$56 billion to NT$60 billion, earmarked for repairing and rebuilding infrastructure, electricity systems, telecommunications and cable TV networks, cultural heritage sites and other public facilities.
FLEXIBLE FORCE: Only about 10 percent of small drones reach their target, an expert said, which is why it is important to make it easier to procure large numbers of drones The military is planning to recategorize military drones as “consumables/munitions,” rather than as aircraft, to speed up the procurement process, the army said yesterday. The Army Command Headquarters said the decision was made because drones, like munitions, need to be rapidly replaced, and thus should be categorized as consumables/munitions “to meet the army’s practical needs.” The headquarters’ confirmation came after the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister paper) early yesterday reported that the army was about to make the classification change based on the example of the US, which is Taiwan’s biggest arms provider. US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth announced a
RSS