The former head of the air force’s weather center cannot work in the public sector for two years after being found guilty of gross negligence in actions deemed partly responsible for a military helicopter crash in 2020 that killed eight military officers, including chief of the general staff general Shen Yi-ming (沈一鳴).
Although proceedings of the Judicial Yuan’s Disciplinary Court are confidential, a source told the Central News Agency on condition of anonymity that the court, which is responsible for punishing civil servants, gave Jen I-wei (任亦偉) the two-year suspension.
Jen was head of the weather center at the Air Force Weather Wing’s No. 8 Base when the Black Hawk crashed into the mountains in New Taipei City on Jan. 2, 2020.
The court’s decision came after the Control Yuan in July 2020 impeached Jen and Chou Shih-kai (周士凱), an officer at the weather center, over negligence related to the crash.
Citing insufficient evidence, the Disciplinary Court decided not to punish Chou. The ruling can be appealed.
The Control Yuan’s impeachment said that the Black Hawk helicopter, carrying 13 military personnel to a base in Yilan County’s Dongao Township (東澳) for an inspection before the Lunar New Year holiday, crashed into the mountains of New Taipei City’s Wulai District (烏來) on Jan. 2, 2020.
Eight of the passengers, including Shen, died in the crash.
An investigative report released in February 2020 ruled out mechanical failure as the cause.
It found that the crash was most likely caused by a combination of human factors and a sudden change in weather conditions in the mountains.
The air force said that the pilot tried to pull up for visibility when he flew into cloud cover that suddenly formed before the chopper crashed into the mountains.
The air force punished five senior officers, including a commander and a deputy commander, over the crash.
The Control Yuan report showed that Jen, who was responsible for the pre-mission briefing that day, told the pilots that their mission was “good to go,” despite patches of clouds near the mountains along the flight route.
The probe found that Jen’s forecast was based on visible cloud imagery from earlier that day, but that he had failed to check near-infrared imaging, or true color imaging, along the flight path, which would have provided the pilots with a more accurate forecast.
During interviews, Jen told Control Yuan members that he did not check near-infrared images, which was deemed to be serious negligence.
Near-infrared images for that day showed low-layer clouds along the flight route that could lead to low visibility, the Control Yuan report said.
The Control Yuan said that Chou was supposed to update the pilots on the latest weather conditions along the route, but had failed to do so, which should be punished.
Yesterday, the air force said that it respected the court’s rulings, adding that corrective measures put in place since the crash should ensure that such a tragedy never happens again.
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