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.
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