Army helicopter crash kills pilot, injures co-pilot

An army helicopter crashed during a routine exercise early yesterday in Miaoli County, killing the pilot and injuring the co-pilot, army headquarters said.

The pilot, Major Chen Yao-cheng (陳耀正), 31, was killed immediately in the crash and Captain Wei Ya-teh (魏雅得), 25, was slightly injured. Chen had celebrated his 31st birthday on Sunday, his family said.

It was the first such accident since sophisticated US-made OH-58D scout helicopters were acquired by the army in 1993. There are about 25 of the helicopters in the force.

Officials did not immediately explain why the helicopter went down in hilly terrain near the town of Sanyi (三義).

Witnesses said the aircraft first circled around for a while in the sky, stalled and nose-dived quickly. The helicopter hit a power line before it exploded on a river bank at 7:48am. The accident took place just 300m from the Sun Yat-sen Freeway.

A spokesman said the helicopter took off from a military base in Hsinshe (新社), a suburban town in Taichung County, but crashed 10 minutes later.

Two OH-58D helicopters and three AH-1W Super Cobra attack helicopters took part in yesterday's routine exercise.

Equipped with infrared sensors, a laser designator and various automatic targeting systems, the OH-58D is the US Army's most sophisticated scout and attack aircraft. Each OH-58D costs US$6.7 million.