Legislators on the Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee yesterday questioned the Ministry of National Defense over its investigation into the cause of an F-5E crash in October last year, with ministry personnel saying that mechanical problems might have contributed to the accident.
On Monday, two jets of the same class collided, killing a pilot and leaving another missing, leading many legislators to question the ministry’s investigation into such cases.
Four F-5E jets took off from Taitung Airbase at about 2:30pm on Monday for a routine training mission. Two of the aircraft disappeared from radar screens at 3:06pm, 1.4 nautical miles (2.6km) off Pingtung County’s Mudan Township (牡丹).
The air force said the jets, piloted by First Lieutenant Lo Shang-hua (羅尚樺) and Captain Pan Ying-chun (潘穎諄), are believed to have collided in mid-air during a change in formation.
Lo was found unconscious at sea at 4:41pm and rushed to hospital. He later died of his injuries. Pan remains missing.
In October last year, an F-5E, piloted by Captain Chu Kuan-meng (朱冠甍), crashed at sea less than two minutes after takeoff. Chu died from injuries sustained from ejecting from the plane.
Ministry procedure requires that an initial report be issued within 45 days of an incident, while more detailed reports should be delivered six months and one year later, Minister of National Defense Chiu Kuo-cheng (邱國正) said.
The ministry is not required to forward the reports to the Executive Yuan, which would be informed informally should there be progress in the investigation, Chiu said.
Air force Chief of Staff Huang Chih-wei (黃志偉) told the committee that a preliminary report had been submitted for the F-5E crash on time and the air force is still searching for the crashed fighter.
Regarding whether the aircraft’s canopy affected ejection, Huang said that the ejection system of the F-5E series had been looked into in the 1990s and early 2000s, and the current system uses a zero-zero ejection seat, allowing a pilot to eject and land safely at low altitudes.
The system jettisons the canopy and ejects the pilot in one action, he added.
Regarding Chu’s ejection, the air force believes mechanical failure might have been a cause, specifically the engine, Huang said.
However, the pilot might have ejected too late or the aircraft might have been poorly positioned at the time of ejection, he added.
Additional reporting by CNA
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