One of eight signals from the flight data recorder of a missing F-16 jet, piloted by Colonel Chiang Cheng-chih (蔣正志), was intercepted off the coast of Hualien County, Minister of National Defense Yen De-fa (嚴德發) told the Legislative Yuan yesterday.
Dragon Prince Hydro-Survey Enterprise Co (銓日儀) has been commissioned to retrieve the flight data recorder, Yen added.
The company was also commissioned to locate the F-5E jet that crashed into the sea off the coast of Taitung County on Oct. 29.
Photo: Yu Tai-lang, Taipei Times
On Tuesday, Chiang took off from the Hualien Air Base at 6:05pm for a scheduled nighttime training exercise, but disappeared from radar screens two minutes later.
More than 25 airplanes and 34 vessels have been deployed in the search and rescue efforts, Yen said.
The ministry would like to thank the Executive Yuan’s Rescue Coordination Center, the Coast Guard Administration, the National Airborne Service Corps and the Hualien Fishers’ Association, he added.
The survey company’s vessel, the Polaris Australis, has arrived at the Port of Hualien and is expected to immediately begin searching along the east coast.
The submersible is outfitted with a state-of-the-art dynamic positioning system, a sonar system capable of detecting entities at a distance of up to 2,000m and a multibeam echosounder capable of detecting entities at 3,000m.
The ministry detected eight separate signals, thought to be from the F-16’s ejection seat and its fuselage, Yen told legislators on the sidelines of the meeting, adding that the ministry has forwarded the data to the survey company, which is to start searching in the area of the first signal, 9 nautical miles (17km) off the coast.
Dragon Prince CEO Hsi Shen-ming (奚慎明) declined to comment on details of the operation, citing a non-disclosure agreement with the air force.
Hsi would only say that the firm would work with the air force and follow the military’s instructions, as outlined in its contract.
On Tuesday night, a Chinese maritime research ship was detected off the coast of Hualien and Yilan counties, military personnel in Taitung said, on condition of anonymity.
The ministry condemned rumors online, reportedly spread by Chinese cyberwarfare units, that Chiang defected to the People’s Republic of China, landing his fighter jet in Xiamen.
“The rumors are repugnant and cheapen our professional soldiers’ faith in defending their nation,” the ministry said.
Military personnel stand at their posts and are diligent in their duty to safeguard the nation, the ministry added.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique