A master sergeant died this morning after being sucked into an engine during a routine inspection of a fighter jet at an air base in Taichung, the Air Force Command Headquarters said.
The officer surnamed Hu (胡) was conducting final landing checks at Ching Chuan Kang (清泉崗) Air Base when she was sucked into the jet’s engine for unknown reasons, the air force said in a news release.
She was transported to a hospital for emergency treatment, but was unable to be revived, it said.
Photo: Taipei Times
The air force expressed its deepest sympathies over the incident, and vowed to work with authorities as they investigate.
It also vowed to assist Hu’s family with bereavement matters, and said it would conduct a thorough review to improve work procedures in the hopes of preventing a recurrence.
According to reports, Hu had served in the military for about 17 years.
The incident reportedly occurred when Hu was setting up wheel chocks to keep an Indigenous Defense Fighter (IDF) in place after it had landed.
An expert with knowledge of the matter expressed disbelief, saying in a private and anonymous capacity that the chance of a ground crew member being sucked in by an IDF engine is “miniscule.”
After the plane lands, the motor speed is on a slow “standby” rotation and should have stopped by the time wheel chocks were being deployed, they said, adding that there would not have been time to pick up speed fast enough to pull anyone in.
In addition, the engine intake opening on the IDF is relatively small, especially compared with the single-engine F-16, with two smaller engines on either side of the fuselage that would not be large enough to fit an adult person, they added.
The source also said it should not be difficult to investigate, as security cameras are installed in the hangar.
Taiwanese can file complaints with the Tourism Administration to report travel agencies if their activities caused termination of a person’s citizenship, Mainland Affairs Council Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said yesterday, after a podcaster highlighted a case in which a person’s citizenship was canceled for receiving a single-use Chinese passport to enter Russia. The council is aware of incidents in which people who signed up through Chinese travel agencies for tours of Russia were told they could obtain Russian visas and fast-track border clearance, Chiu told reporters on the sidelines of an event in Taipei. However, the travel agencies actually applied
Japanese footwear brand Onitsuka Tiger today issued a public apology and said it has suspended an employee amid allegations that the staff member discriminated against a Vietnamese customer at its Taipei 101 store. Posting on the social media platform Threads yesterday, a user said that an employee at the store said that “those shoes are very expensive” when her friend, who is a migrant worker from Vietnam, asked for assistance. The employee then ignored her until she asked again, to which she replied: "We don't have a size 37." The post had amassed nearly 26,000 likes and 916 comments as of this
New measures aimed at making Taiwan more attractive to foreign professionals came into effect this month, the National Development Council said yesterday. Among the changes, international students at Taiwanese universities would be able to work in Taiwan without a work permit in the two years after they graduate, explainer materials provided by the council said. In addition, foreign nationals who graduated from one of the world’s top 200 universities within the past five years can also apply for a two-year open work permit. Previously, those graduates would have needed to apply for a work permit using point-based criteria or have a Taiwanese company
The Shilin District Prosecutors’ Office yesterday indicted two Taiwanese and issued a wanted notice for Pete Liu (劉作虎), founder of Shenzhen-based smartphone manufacturer OnePlus Technology Co (萬普拉斯科技), for allegedly contravening the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例) by poaching 70 engineers in Taiwan. Liu allegedly traveled to Taiwan at the end of 2014 and met with a Taiwanese man surnamed Lin (林) to discuss establishing a mobile software research and development (R&D) team in Taiwan, prosecutors said. Without approval from the government, Lin, following Liu’s instructions, recruited more than 70 software
RSS