A National Airborne Services Corps (NASC) rescue helicopter that went missing minutes before midnight on Monday when evacuating a medical patient from Orchid Island (Lanyu, 蘭嶼) was still missing as of press time last night.
Although a search-and-rescue operation was being conducted, there was no sign of the helicopter and the six people on board — three crew, an emergency medical technician, the patient and a family member of the patient.
At about 11:50pm on Monday, the UH-60M Black Hawk helicopter with tail number NA-706 took off in poor weather, sources said, adding that it vanished from radar and radio contact and was lost within minutes.
Photo: National Airborne Services Corps / CNA
Its last known location was 2 nautical miles (3.7km) southwest of Orchid Island, sources said.
At 1:26am yesterday, the National Rescue Command Center began moving helicopters and ships to the area, including NASC and air force helicopters, a Lafayette-class frigate and five coast guard vessels.
The coast guard along with Taitung police and firefighters initiated an overland search, focusing on Orchid Island’s hills and the coastline near Lanyu Airport.
Photo: CNA, courtesy of Navy Command, ROC
However, an air force Sikorsky S-70C helicopter, launched at 6:56am to participate in the operation, was forced to land at Lanyu Airport at 7:40pm due to an instrument failure.
The precise cause of the failure was under investigation and another S-70C replaced the helicopter in the search, the air force said.
The Black Hawk’s transponder did not transmit signals, although it was designed to do so if the helicopter crashed at sea, NASC Second Squadron Third Brigade Commander Chu Shih-chuan (祝世全) said.
Photo: CNA
He also denied media allegations that NA-706 was flying in adverse conditions that exceeded operating parameters.
Black Hawk helicopters are fully capable of night operations over maritime environments and in powerful gusts, he said, adding that the visibility of 5,000m at the time of the incident was adequate.
He also dismissed as inaccurate a report in the Chinese-language United Daily News that quoted eyewitnesses as saying that the helicopter was malfunctioning immediately after take-off, because it was tilting forward during flight.
“Rotary-wing aircraft cannot accelerate from a horizontal position and must tilt forward to increase airspeed,” he said. “It is normal for a helicopter to dip forward after take-off. This is unrelated to mechanical failures.”
“No effort will be spared” in the operation to rescue the passengers, Minister of the Interior Yeh Jiunn-rong (葉俊榮) said yesterday morning.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of National Defense yesterday said that the armed forces have grounded all Black Hawks for inspection in response to the incident.
The army has also grounded its Boeing AH-64 Apache helicopter gunships following reports that a Japanese Self-Defense Forces Apache crashed on Monday, the ministry said.
In the past 16 years, there have been 11 NASC crashes with seven fatalities and three aircraft written off as total losses, excluding Monday’s incident, according to the Aviation Safety Council.
Additional reporting by CNA
NO HUMAN ERROR: After the incident, the Coast Guard Administration said it would obtain uncrewed aerial vehicles and vessels to boost its detection capacity Authorities would improve border control to prevent unlawful entry into Taiwan’s waters and safeguard national security, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday after a Chinese man reached the nation’s coast on an inflatable boat, saying he “defected to freedom.” The man was found on a rubber boat when he was about to set foot on Taiwan at the estuary of Houkeng River (後坑溪) near Taiping Borough (太平) in New Taipei City’s Linkou District (林口), authorities said. The Coast Guard Administration’s (CGA) northern branch said it received a report at 6:30am yesterday morning from the New Taipei City Fire Department about a
IN BEIJING’S FAVOR: A China Coast Guard spokesperson said that the Chinese maritime police would continue to carry out law enforcement activities in waters it claims The Philippines withdrew its coast guard vessel from a South China Sea shoal that has recently been at the center of tensions with Beijing. BRP Teresa Magbanua “was compelled to return to port” from Sabina Shoal (Xianbin Shoal, 仙濱暗沙) due to bad weather, depleted supplies and the need to evacuate personnel requiring medical care, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) spokesman Jay Tarriela said yesterday in a post on X. The Philippine vessel “will be in tiptop shape to resume her mission” after it has been resupplied and repaired, Philippine Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, who heads the nation’s maritime council, said
REGIONAL STABILITY: Taipei thanked the Biden administration for authorizing its 16th sale of military goods and services to uphold Taiwan’s defense and safety The US Department of State has approved the sale of US$228 million of military goods and services to Taiwan, the US Department of Defense said on Monday. The state department “made a determination approving a possible Foreign Military Sale” to the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the US for “return, repair and reshipment of spare parts and related equipment,” the defense department’s Defense Security Cooperation Agency said in a news release. Taiwan had requested the purchase of items and services which include the “return, repair and reshipment of classified and unclassified spare parts for aircraft and related equipment; US Government
More than 500 people on Saturday marched in New York in support of Taiwan’s entry to the UN, significantly more people than previous years. The march, coinciding with the ongoing 79th session of the UN General Assembly, comes close on the heels of growing international discourse regarding the meaning of UN Resolution 2758. Resolution 2758, adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1971, recognizes the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as the “only lawful representative of China.” It resulted in the Republic of China (ROC) losing its seat at the UN to the PRC. Taiwan has since been excluded from