The air force has greatly expanded its combat flight-training capacity as part of its efforts to upgrade its overall combat strength in 2001, according to air force general headquarters.
The combat flight training capacity has been expanded three-fold due to the enhancement of the capabilities of the service's air combat maneuvering instrumentation system, air force general headquarters said in a written report.
The system can control and command the flights of combat simulators. The air force has only one such system at its main combat flight training center in Taitung.
The upgraded system at the Taitung air base can now handle 100 planes simultaneously, which is three times its previous capacity, the report says.
The air force has also completed the installation of flight simulators for C-130 transportation aircraft.
Flight simulators for other major aircraft in the service, which include IDF, F-16, and Mirage 2000-5 fighter planes, have been in use for several years. Before the installation of the C-130 simulator, however, C-130 pilots had to undertake flight training in the US or travel to Singapore for simulator practice, an air force official said.
The installation of the flight simulators is one of a number of combat strength enhancement programs that the air force launched last year.
Other programs include the upgrading of G-force adaptation training, the provision of dieticians and body trainers for combat pilots and the continuation of a risk management mechanism introduced by the US last year, the report says.
The air force now strictly demands that combat pilots -- especially those who are to fly second-generation fighters like the IDF, F-16 and Mirage 2000-5 -- to undergo centrifuge training in order to become fully adapted to the G-forces generated during difficult maneuvers by fighter planes.
The demand is a result of lessons that the air force has learned from fighter plane crashes over the past three years.
A total of six second-generation fighters, including four F-16s and two Mirage 2000-5s, have crashed in the past three years, killing six pilots.
The causes of the crashes have not been determined in every case, but the pilots' failure to resist the G-forces sustained during the flights has been pointed to as a likely factor.
The provision of dieticians and body trainers for combat pilots is also aimed at preventing human error during training flights.
The air force has not constantly monitored the health conditions of combat pilots in the past, which made it impossible to identify possible connections between an air crash and the health of individual pilots.
Meanwhile, the air force has kicked off a six-year program to eliminate crashes caused by hitting birds at military airports across the nation.
The measure was necessitated by the fact that a Mirage 2000-5 fighter crashed into seas off Hsinchu in late 1999 when a bird was sucked into the engine.
The six-year program includes the use of remote-controlled planes to drive birds away from military airports, an investigation into the species of birds hovering around military airports and the establishment of a real-time bird monitoring system.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique