The Ministry of National Defense is slated to release a report today of its investigation into a helicopter crash in April.
On April 25, an AH-64E Apache helicopter crashed into a residential building in Taoyuan County. The helicopter, one of 18 AH-64E Apaches the US delivered between November last year and March, was on a routine training flight when it crashed into the top of a three-story building in Longtan Township (龍潭), damaging four homes and slightly injuring the two pilots. No one on the ground was hurt in the incident.
According to sources, the report cited pilot error as the cause of the crash, and pilots Major Chen Lung-chien (陳龍謙) and Lieutenant Colonel Liu Ming-hui (劉銘輝) have each been grounded for half a year.
Sources cited the report as saying that Chen took Liu off on a routine training flight on April 25.
The cockpit fogged up due to weather conditions after taking off and Chen had taken the helicopter higher in search of better visibility.
A sudden lowering of the cloud lines rendered the pilots unable to see outside the helicopter and disoriented, sources cited the report as saying, adding that the pilots had not paid attention to their dashboards and monitored the helicopter’s state.
The pilots discovered they were headed straight into civilian housing in Taoyuan when they finally exited the cloud cover, sources cited the report as saying.
The crash caused irreparable damage to the helicopter.
The army completed the initial investigation within the standard 45-day limit, ministry officials said, adding that the ministry organized a taskforce to look into the army’s report in the middle of last month to compile the official report.
Ministry officials who wished not to be named said that although the crash was due to human error, “we are certain no pilot would consciously cause serious flight security incidents putting their lives and the lives of their partners at risk,” adding that they had imposed the most serious penalty a pilot could receive by grounding them from flight.
The officials said that the military has not ruled out mechanical failure, despite finding that the incident had been caused by pilot error, and therefore reserved the right to ask for reparations from the US military as the Apaches were still under guarantee.
Since the first deliveries of the AH-64Es to Taiwan, the fleet of helicopters had already been grounded twice, the first time due to Boeing Defense, Space & Security’s announcement to all AH-64E users in December last year of mechanical errors and the second due to the incident in April.
Sources said that although both pilots are grounded, Liu would not be grounded for the full term as he had been a trainee during the flight.
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