The bodies of two pilots aboard an Air Force Academy twin-seater T-34C trainer plane that went missing during a training flight on Tuesday were found yesterday by an Army rescue team on a mountain in Kaohsiung County, the military said.
The wreckage of the plane was found in a mountain forest in the county’s Namasia Township (那瑪夏).
“We are truly sorry to have to confirm the death of the two pilots,” said Lieutenant General Yen Teh-fa (嚴德發), commanding officer of the Army’s Eighth Legion.
PHOTO: CNA
Yen, in charge of the rescue operation, said that Second Lieutenant Chen Tse-yu’s (陳澤宇) body was found on a large rock face at about 1:10pm. One hour later, the body of Yau Chien-bao (饒健保), Chen’s flight instructor, was discovered under a large piece of debris at a location far away from where Chen was found.
Yen said that rescuers onboard an Army helicopter discovered the crash site 5km southeast of the aircraft’s last reported location at 12:14pm and eight special forces members were immediately dropped at the scene, where they located Chen’s body.
Yen said the crash site was amid tall trees and was not discovered for two days because the crash had not caused a fire or explosion.
Colonel Chang Kuo-hua (張國華), the spokesman for the Air Force Academy, which maintained the T-34, said there were no flight recorders, beacons or GPS devices on the aircraft, but added that there were GPS trackers on Chen’s and Yau’s parachute packs.
The GPS trackers turn on automatically once a pilot abandons the plane and uses the parachute.
Yen said there was no evidence at the scene to indicate that the two pilots had attempted to escape prior to the crash.
Chen’s and Yau’s bodies were taken by military helicopter to the Air Force hospital in Gangshan Township (岡山), Kaohsiung County, while Air Force personnel remained at the crash site to collect debris for further investigation.
Chen Tse-yu, a second lieutenant who graduated from the academy in 2008, had 110 hours flight time, while his 48-year-old instructor had flown 4,235 hours. Yao retired from the Air Force last year, but later returned to serve as a flight instructor.
The US-built T-34 trainer planes have been in service for more than 30 years. The Air Force purchased a batch of T-34C planes from the US in 1985 for basic flight training.
The military grounded all T-34C trainers for safety checks after Tuesday’s incident, military sources said.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY CNA
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