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Search for missing F-16 pilot goes on

Minister of National Defense Michael Tsai, second right, talks with the wife of F-16 fighter pilot Ting Shih-pao in Hualien yesterday. Tsai said that the Ministry of National Defense was doing all it could to find Ting, who went missing during a routine night training drill on Tuesday. PHOTO: THE MINISTRY OF NATIONAL DEFENSE

The search continued for an F-16A Fighting Falcon jet and its pilot yesterday, missing since a routine night training drill on Tuesday.

By noon yesterday the Ministry of National Defense (MND) had dispatched seven S-70C helicopters, three C-130 aircraft and several naval vessels to comb the waters off Hualien County where the jet fighter was feared to have crashed, officials said.

Coast guard units also sent four patrol ships to join the search for the single-seat F-16, part of the Air Force's 401 Wing, which disappeared from radar screens 28 minutes after it took off from an airbase in Hualien at 6:50pm on Tuesday, officials said.

The pilot, Major Ting Shih-pao (丁世寶), was flying over waters some 42 nautical miles (78km) southeast of Hualien at the time controllers lost contact.

Ministry officials said the military would spare no effort in searching for the plane and its pilot over the coming 48 hours.

Minister of National Defense Michael Tsai (蔡明憲) -- who ordered an all-out search for the fighter -- and Chief of the General Staff General Huo Shou-yeh (霍守業), rushed to the Hualien airbase on Tuesday night to console Ting's family.

Meanwhile, Yang Feng-sheng (楊鳳生), the political warfare chief of the Air Force's 401 Wing, said a special task force had been formed to investigate the disappearance of the F-16.

Yang said it was not yet clear if the pilot had ejected from the aircraft. Ting, 34, who had a total of 1,234.5 hours of flight time, has been listed as missing. Ting did not issue a distress call or make contact with ground controllers before the plane disappeared, Yang said.

There has been speculation that Ting fled the country in the jet, but Yang dismissed such rumors as "irresponsible."
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