A tail rotor failure might have caused a Taiwanese Navy S-70C anti-submarine helicopter to crash in Kaohsiung during a training mission on Wednesday, a preliminary inquiry has shown.
The aircraft “made a hard landing” on the tarmac of the Kaohsiung Zuoying naval base on Wednesday at about 4pm, injuring all four crew members, with one in critical condition, navy Chief of Staff Vice Admiral Chiang Cheng-kuo (蔣正國) said at a news conference yesterday.
Accounts from air traffic controllers and the helicopter’s pilots pointed to a tail rotor failure, Chiang said, adding that no other mechanical problems were encountered before the incident.
Photo: CNA
An official cause of the crash has not been determined pending investigation, he said.
The crew chief, surnamed Liu (劉), suffered the most severe injuries and is in hospital in critical condition, Ministry of National Defense Medical Affairs Bureau official Chen Yuan-hao (陳元皓) said.
Liu sustained second and third-degree burns on 95 percent of his body, and has a subarachnoid hemorrhage — bleeding between the brain and its surrounding membrane, Chen said.
The other crew members are in stable condition after being treated at a military hospital in Kaohsiung, including a chief inspector surnamed Kuo (郭), who has second and third-degree burns on 20 percent of his body, Chen said.
The pilot, surnamed Chen (陳), and co-pilot, surnamed Cheng (鄭), have relatively minor injuries, such as rib fractures and lacerations to the face and limbs, he said.
The navy said the helicopter was severely damaged, and it would assess whether repair is possible.
The crash was the fourth military aircraft accident this year, following crashes of an F-16 fighter, a Mirage 2000 fighter and an AT-3 trainer, resulting in the deaths of two pilots.
Taiwan’s Naval Antisubmarine Aviation Group has 18 S-70Cs, which have been in service since 1991, including the one that crashed on Wednesday.
Three other S-70C-related incidents that resulted in severe damage to the aircraft occurred in 1994, 2005 and 2008.
A drunk woman was sexually assaulted inside a crowded concourse of Taipei Railway Station on Thursday last week before a foreign tourist notified police, leading to calls for better education on bystander intervention and review of security infrastructure. The man, surnamed Chiu (邱), was taken into custody on charges of sexual assault, taking advantage of the woman’s condition and public indecency. Police discovered that Chiu was a fugitive with prior convictions for vehicle theft. He has been taken into custody and is to complete his unserved six-month sentence, police said. On Thursday last week, Chiu was seen wearing a white
The Taoyuan Flight Attendants’ Union yesterday vowed to protest at the EVA Air Marathon on Sunday next week should EVA Airway Corp’s management continue to ignore the union’s petition to change rules on employees’ leave of absence system, after a flight attendant reportedly died after working on a long-haul flight while ill. The case has generated public discussion over whether taking personal or sick leave should affect a worker’s performance review. Several union members yesterday protested at the Legislative Yuan, holding white flowers and placards, while shouting: “Life is priceless; requesting leave is not a crime.” “The union is scheduled to meet with
‘UNITED FRONT’ RHETORIC: China’s TAO also plans to hold weekly, instead of biweekly, news conferences because it wants to control the cross-strait discourse, an expert said China’s plan to expand its single-entry visa-on-arrival service to Taiwanese would be of limited interest to Taiwanese and is a feeble attempt by Chinese administrators to demonstrate that they are doing something, the Mainland Affairs Council said yesterday. China’s Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) spokesman Chen Binhua (陳斌華) said the program aims to facilitate travel to China for Taiwanese compatriots, regardless of whether they are arriving via direct flights or are entering mainland China through Hong Kong, Macau or other countries, and they would be able to apply for a single-entry visa-on-arrival at all eligible entry points in China. The policy aims
The government yesterday donated US$200,000 to the Philippines to support post-earthquake relief and recovery efforts, following a powerful magnitude 6.9 quake that struck Cebu Province late last month, killing at least 72 people and injuring 559 others. The donation was presented earlier yesterday by Representative to the Philippines Wallace Chow (周民淦) to Cherbett Maralit, deputy resident representative of the Manila Economic and Cultural Office, at Taiwan’s representative office in Manila. In his remarks, Chow expressed concern for those affected by the magnitude 6.9 earthquake that struck the central Philippines on the night of Sept. 30. "We sincerely hope for the earliest possible
RSS