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Sources blame instructor for crash of IDF in April

"The pilot [of a China Airlines jet that crashed in Taoyuan] insisted on landing the plane under unfavorable conditions. He seemed to be too confident of himself. But the consequence of such overconfidence was the loss of the lives of hundreds of passengers"

anonymous analyst

An air force flight instructor who wanted to punish his student caused the jet fighter they were flying to crash, defense sources said yesterday.

The flight instructor on the locally made, twin-seat Indigenous Defense Fighter (IDF), Major Wang Chu-hsiang (王祖祥), was found to have intentionally conducted maneuvers during the April training flight that placed trainee Lieutenant Sung Yueh-tun (宋岳暾) under immense G-forces.

The maneuvers rendered Sung unable to take over the controls again, forcing the plane to spin out of control.

Wang and Sung ejected to safety before the plane crashed.

Wang wept at a press conference after the crash, but claimed that the plane suddenly went out of control and that they had no choice but to abandon it.

According to the sources, Wang was telling only half the truth and should be held responsible for causing the accident. Wang's unnecessary harshness was a result of problems with his mental state, the sources said.

Wang has been suspended from all flight activities and could be barred from flying again.

Some air force officials, who argue that the instructor's willful action has caused the air force to lose a fighter plane worth more than NT$1 billion, consider the punishment to be too light.

But others fear that a harsher punishment might cause flight instructors to be scared of being tough on trainees in the future.

An analyst said that the air force has many such pilots who have great confidence in their flying skills and are never willing to admit to their mistakes.

Several years ago, a civil passenger plane, which crashed when trying to land at the CKS airport in Taoyuan, was flown by a retired air force pilot who was overconfident in his abilities, said the analyst, who wished to remain anonymous.

The crash could have been avoided if the pilot had followed instructions from the control tower of the airport to come around for a second landing attempt, he said.

"The pilot insisted on landing the plane under unfavorable conditions. He seemed to be too confident of himself. But the consequence of such overconfidence was the loss of the lives of hundreds of passengers," he said.

"The pilot came from the air force, where he learned good flying skills but poor flight safety concepts," he said.

The crash of the IDF tarnished the safety record of the domestically-built fighter. Before the incident, the IDF fleet had lost only one plane through crashes.

Even so, the IDF still has a better safety record that the air force's US-made F-16 A/B and French-made Mirage 2000-5.
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