The air force is to finish installing new ejection seats on all of its F-5 jets by the end of this year, a military source said on Saturday.
The new ejection seats would hopefully end a long-standing safety issue that has led to the death of at least two pilots, the source said.
The Ministry of National Defense last year budgeted NT$746.5 million (US$24.31 million) to install 70 Mk16 ejection seats manufactured by Martin-Baker Aircraft Co on the nation’s fleet of 70 F-5s.
Photo: Ann Wang, REUTERS
The plan was announced after three pilots were killed within a year in incidents involving F-5E jets, leading to speculation that malfunctioning ejection seats contributed to the incidents’ fatal outcomes.
On Oct. 30, 2020, air force Captain Chu Kuan-meng (朱冠甍), 29, ejected from an F-5E during a drill after the jet’s engine malfunctioned. He was later found dead. A postmortem found head trauma and concluded that he died of cerebral bleeding-induced neurogenic shock.
On March 22 last year, air force Lieutenant Luo Shang-hua (羅尚樺), 26, died after his F-5E jet sideswiped another jet, piloted by Captain Pan Ying-chun (潘穎諄), 28. Both pilots died. Luo’s body was found four weeks after the incident.
A postmortem determined that Luo died of neurogenic shock, while forensic examiners could not determine Pan’s cause of death.
The ministry later confirmed that mechanical defects were found in Chu’s and Luo’s ejection seats.
The incidents happened less than six months apart, sparking concern among lawmakers and members of the public, and prompting the ministry to allocate funds for new ejection seats.
The air force installed the first new ejection seat in December last year, and as of the end of June had installed 24 seats, a source said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
All 70 new ejection seats are to be installed by the end of this year, they said.
The air force said that the new seats are compatible with the domestically produced T-BE5A “Brave Eagle” Advanced Jet Trainers, so the same seats would be installed on them before they replace the F-5s in 2024.
The decades-old F-5s are mostly used for training purposes, although they could be called into action during wartime, another unnamed air force source said.
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
A magnitude 4.1 earthquake struck eastern Taiwan's Hualien County at 2:23pm today, according to the Central Weather Administration (CWA). The epicenter of the temblor was 5.4 kilometers northeast of Hualien County Hall, at a depth of 34.9 km, according to the CWA. The earthquake's intensity, which gauges the actual effect of a temblor, was the highest in Hualien County, where it measured 2 on Taiwan's 7-tier intensity scale. The quake also measured an intensity of 1 in Yilan county, Taichung, Nantou County, Changhua County and Yunlin County, the CWA said. There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries.
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by
‘WORSE THAN COMMUNISTS’: President William Lai has cracked down on his political enemies and has attempted to exterminate all opposition forces, the chairman said The legislature would motion for a presidential recall after May 20, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday at a protest themed “against green communists and dictatorship” in Taipei. Taiwan is supposed to be a peaceful homeland where people are united, but President William Lai (賴清德) has been polarizing and tearing apart society since his inauguration, Chu said. Lai must show his commitment to his job, otherwise a referendum could be initiated to recall him, he said. Democracy means the rule of the people, not the rule of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), but Lai has failed to fulfill his
RSS