On the evening of Nov. 17, the same day as the memorial service for air force Captain Chu Kuan-meng (朱冠甍), who died on Oct. 29 when his F-5E jet crashed into the sea, an F-16 jet disappeared from radar during a nighttime training exercise and the pilot, Colonel Chiang Cheng-chih (蔣正志), went missing.
This was the ninth F-16 crash since the fleet was formed 23 years ago and the fourth military plane crash this year.
I am not an expert on the air force, but, based on my experience in a vehicle and weapons maintenance unit during my military service and 30 years of experience in mechanical manufacturing since my discharge, I am forwarding some thoughts here.
Taiwan’s armed forces have always had two blind spots when it comes to logistics maintenance:
First, due to confidentiality requirements and the arms sourcing process, it is a closed system. In other words, it uses a mentorship system, where military technicians mentor those new to the service, and senior officers mentor junior officers.
Second, after a military plane crashes, the standard procedure is to ground the entire fleet, to conduct an inspection, and then to resume flights. The older an aircraft is, the higher its risk of crashing — but the military and some others continue to expound that there is no clear correlation between aircraft age and crashes.
Unfortunately, plane crashes have become more frequent. Apart from the pilot factor, warranty repairs and quality controls have a common downfall: The longer aircraft mechanics are on the job, the more likely key things are neglected.
The military should have civilian professionals join the inspection of regular and grounded flights, and stay at airbases for six months to one year, when necessary, to evaluate where improvement is needed.
The global automotive industry recognizes that Toyota Motor Corp has the highest reliability; its quality controls are a model for management across many industries. The government should invite the company to help increase reliability so that frontline pilots and their loved ones are not on tenterhooks all of the time.
When I served in the military and was looking for resources to improve my English, as well as my logistical and maintenance skills, I came across US military technical manuals. They are well-documented, and have lots of detailed diagrams and descriptions.
As I tried to memorize the English text, I could tell from the condition of the manuals — the covers looked new and there was no wear on the spines or pages — that my colleagues must rarely have used them. We only worked on ground equipment, so — similar for civilian equipment — it was no big deal if they broke down.
However, Taiwan’s F-16 and F-5E jets were first decommissioned US military aircraft, so it only makes sense to closely read the original US technical manuals to help improve their reliability.
There is yet another thing that is being neglected by the military, but which warrants an improvement effort: The crashes over the past five years always end up with the pilot dying and the planes destroyed, leaving no clues for an accident review.
The military and arms industry should develop ways to protect the pilots so that preventive measures can be implemented and combat readiness maintained.
Fang Fu-chuan is a retired Marine Corps major.
Translated by Lin Lee-kai
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