Two air force officers sustained minor injuries yesterday when two AT-3 trainer planes belonging to the Taiwanese Air Force Academy collided in Pingtung County, firefighters said later yesterday.
The firefighters said the two men were rushed to hospital for treatment. One sustained bone fractures, while the other injured his hand.
The Air Force Academy said the training craft took off from Gangshan (岡山), Greater Kaohsiung, at 3:10pm for a routine training mission and one crashed in Fangliao (枋寮), Pingtung County, at 4:25pm.
The second plane, which was also carrying two pilots, returned to base safely, the Ministry of National Defense said in a statement.
The pilots of the downed jet managed to eject before it crashed. They parachuted to the ground with minor injuries and were rushed to a local hospital, the ministry said.
The academy identified the two officers as First Lieutenant Tseng Kuo-wei (曾國維) and Lieutenant Colonel Chang Kuo-chiang (張國強).
Fifty-six-year-old farmer Huang Shui-lin (黃水霖) said he was riding on his scooter nearby when he saw a man lying by the roadside and another about 50m away in a thicket.
He called 119 as he helped one of the men out of his parachute gear, Huang added.
The cause of the crash was under investigation, the academy said.
The crash and similar incidents in the past have sparked calls for the US to sell the nation new planes to replace its aging fleet.
Taipei applied in 2007 to buy 66 F-16C/D jets, which have better radars and more powerful weapons systems than the F-16A/Bs currently in use, as a response to China’s growing military muscle.
However, Washington last year announced that it would help the nation upgrade its existing F-16A/Bs rather than sell it the more up to date jets.
Additional reporting by staff writer
China has reserved offshore airspace in the Yellow Sea and East China Sea from March 27 to May 6, issuing alerts usually used to warn of military exercises, although no such exercises have been announced, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported yesterday. Reserving such a large area for 40 days without explanation is an “unusual step,” as military exercises normally only last a few days, the paper said. These alerts, known as Notice to Air Missions (Notams), “are intended to inform pilots and aviation authorities of temporary airspace hazards or restrictions,” the article said. The airspace reserved in the alert is
NAMING SPAT: The foreign ministry called on Denmark to propose an acceptable solution to the erroneous nationality used for Taiwanese on residence permits Taiwan has revoked some privileges for Danish diplomatic staff over a Danish permit that lists “Taiwan” as “China,” Eric Huang (黃鈞耀), head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Department of European Affairs, told a news conference in Taipei yesterday. Reporters asked Huang whether the Danish government had responded to the ministry’s request that it correct the nationality on Danish residence permits of Taiwanese, which has been listed as “China” since 2024. Taiwan’s representative office in Denmark continues to communicate with the Danish government, and the ministry has revoked some privileges previously granted to Danish representatives in Taiwan and would continue to review
More than 6,000 Taiwanese students have participated in exchange programs in China over the past two years, despite the Mainland Affairs Council’s (MAC) “orange light” travel advisory, government records showed. The MAC’s publicly available registry showed that Taiwanese college and university students who went on exchange programs across the Strait numbered 3,592 and 2,966 people respectively. The National Immigration Agency data revealed that 2,296 and 2,551 Chinese students visited Taiwan for study in the same two years. A review of the Web sites of publicly-run universities and colleges showed that Taiwanese higher education institutions continued to recruit students for Chinese educational programs without
China has reserved offshore airspace over the Yellow Sea and East China Sea from March 27 to May 6, issuing alerts that are usually used to warn of military exercises, although no such exercises have been announced, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported on Sunday. Reserving such a large area for 40 days without explanation is an “unusual step,” as military exercises normally only last a few days, the paper said. The alerts, known as notice to air missions (NOTAMs), “are intended to inform pilots and aviation authorities of temporary airspace hazards or restrictions,” the article said. The airspace reserved in the alert
RSS