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Air Force grounds F-16 fleet after aircraft disappears

The Air Force has grounded its F-16 fleet following the disappearance of one of its aircraft on Tuesday.

Yang Feng-sheng (楊鳳生), political warfare chief of the Air Force's 401 Wing, told reporters that the Air Force had ordered checks on F-16 pilots' personal equipment and oxygen systems. Officials suspect Tuesday's incident was caused by flaws in the F-16's oxygen system.

"This is for the safety of pilots. The F-16s will start flying as soon as possible," he said.

The single-seater F-16 took off from the Hualien Airbase on Tuesday at 6:50pm on a night training exercise and lost contact with the base at 7:18pm, when it was about 78km off the coast.

The Air Force launched a sea and air search for the jet and its pilot, Major Ting Shih-pao (丁世寶), but has yet to locate any wreckage or the pilot. There was no SOS signal from the F-16 before it vanished from radar.

The Air Force yesterday ruled out mechanical failure as the cause of the disappearance, suspecting pilot disorientation or lack of oxygen as the main reason for the plane's disappearance.
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