This year’s Han Kuang military exercises were marred yesterday afternoon by the crash of an army helicopter at Hsinchu Air Force Base that killed the pilot and copilot.
A Bell OH-58D Kiowa Warrior crashed at 3:28pm, the third crash of a Bell OH-58D in the past two years, although the first incident, in March 2018, and the second on May 10 did not result in any injuries or deaths.
The helicopter had made a provisioning stop at the base and then left at 3:25pm to return to Longtan Air Force Base in Taoyuan’s Longtan District (龍潭), Army Command Headquarters said.
Photo: Ritchie B. Tongo, EPA-EFE
The pilot, Major Chien Jen-chuan (簡任專), reported that the rotor speed was too low and he needed to make an emergency return to the Hsinchu base, Commander of the Army General Chen Pao-yu (陳寶餘) said.
The helicopter had reached an altitude of 400m before Chien reported that the rotor speed was too low, Chen said.
Chien tried to perform a 180-degree autorotation maneuver to land at the base and avoid civilian residences, but it could have been that the rotor speed was too low to complete the maneuver, Aviation and Special Forces Command 601 Brigade’s Major-General Chang Tai-sung (張台松) said.
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
Chien and Captain Kao Chia-lung (高嘉隆) were rushed to a nearby hospital, but resuscitation efforts failed and they were pronounced dead.
The command said that it had grounded all 36 of its remaining US-made Bell OH-58D Kiowa Warriors until the results of a thorough investigations are known, but general safety inspections would be carried out in the meantime.
A task force has been assembled to investigate the incident, it said.
The command said that it would provide assistance to Chien’s and Kao’s families, who would receive pension payouts for the two men dying in the line of duty.
President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) wrote on Facebook that she had told the Ministry of National Defense to provide the families with all the assistance they require.
The deaths of Chien and Kao were a sad loss for the army, as well as the entire nation, she wrote.
Tsai called on the military to keep its spirits up, and for the public to offer its full support.
Additional reporting by CNA
The US government has signed defense cooperation agreements with Japan and the Philippines to boost the deterrence capabilities of countries in the first island chain, a report by the National Security Bureau (NSB) showed. The main countries on the first island chain include the two nations and Taiwan. The bureau is to present the report at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee tomorrow. The US military has deployed Typhon missile systems to Japan’s Yamaguchi Prefecture and Zambales province in the Philippines during their joint military exercises. It has also installed NMESIS anti-ship systems in Japan’s Okinawa
‘WIN-WIN’: The Philippines, and central and eastern European countries are important potential drone cooperation partners, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung said Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) in an interview published yesterday confirmed that there are joint ventures between Taiwan and Poland in the drone industry. Lin made the remark in an exclusive interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister paper). The government-backed Taiwan Excellence Drone International Business Opportunities Alliance and the Polish Chamber of Unmanned Systems on Wednesday last week signed a memorandum of understanding in Poland to develop a “non-China” supply chain for drones and work together on key technologies. Asked if Taiwan prioritized Poland among central and eastern European countries in drone collaboration, Lin
Renewed border fighting between Thailand and Cambodia showed no signs of abating yesterday, leaving hundreds of thousands of displaced people in both countries living in strained conditions as more flooded into temporary shelters. Reporters on the Thai side of the border heard sounds of outgoing, indirect fire yesterday. About 400,000 people have been evacuated from affected areas in Thailand and about 700 schools closed while fighting was ongoing in four border provinces, said Thai Rear Admiral Surasant Kongsiri, a spokesman for the military. Cambodia evacuated more than 127,000 villagers and closed hundreds of schools, the Thai Ministry of Defense said. Thailand’s military announced that
CABINET APPROVAL: People seeking assisted reproduction must be assessed to determine whether they would be adequate parents, the planned changes say Proposed amendments to the Assisted Reproduction Act (人工生殖法) advanced yesterday by the Executive Yuan would grant married lesbian couples and single women access to legal assisted reproductive services. The proposed revisions are “based on the fundamental principle of respecting women’s reproductive autonomy,” Cabinet spokesperson Michelle Lee (李慧芝) quoted Vice Premier Cheng Li-chiun (鄭麗君), who presided over a Cabinet meeting earlier yesterday, as saying at the briefing. The draft amendment would be submitted to the legislature for review. The Ministry of Health and Welfare, which proposed the amendments, said that experts on children’s rights, gender equality, law and medicine attended cross-disciplinary meetings, adding that
RSS