Although air force officials insist they have not yet confirmed that Friday's Mirage 2000-5 fighter jet crashed because a pigeon was sucked into its engine, Minister of National Defense Tang Fei (
Tang called for the amendment mainly because military flight facilities -- unlike those used by civilian aircraft -- are not covered by the civil aviation law, which forbids pigeon-raising near airports.
Tang, himself a former air force pilot, made the remarks in response to media inquiries about Friday's incident, which happened off the west coast near Hsinchu.
PHOTO: SHING TING-WEI, LIBERTY TIMES
"Of the 16 military air bases in the country, 13 are also used by civilian airplanes, and they have used the law to eliminate pigeon raising in the vicinity," Tang said.
"The remaining three military airports in Taichung, Kaohsiung and Taitung are used only by military planes, and are thus out of the scope of the civil aviation law," Tang said.
"This means that military aircraft using these three airports are vulnerable to the hazards of pigeon-raising," he added.
An initial investigation has shown that Friday's crash may have been triggered by the intake of a bird -- widely suspected to be a pigeon -- into the jet's engine.
"Although it generally needs to be a larger bird than a pigeon to cause a fighter plane crash like on Friday, the metal ring around the leg of a trained pigeon can cause fatal damage to a fighter plane's turbine if it is sucked in," said military spokesman Kung Fan-ding (
"Bird strikes of this kind are hard to prevent, despite the fact that the military has tried various means, including erecting a giant net along air base runways to catch birds flying past," Kung said.
"The military has even thought of raising eagles to catch pigeons flying around military airports. But the idea was dropped because of possible protests from environmentalists," he added.
Meanwhile, Friday's accident prompted the air force to designate a larger budget for flight safety.
"Starting from next year, the prevention of hazards to aircraft will be a top priority task for the air force and it will be reflected in the budget," said air force deputy inspector-in-chief Lee Kui-fa (
Friday's crash was the first in Taiwan involving the French-made fighter aircraft. The two pilots were slightly injured after ejecting to safety.
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