Taipei [Taiwan]: An Air Force pilot was killed after a training jet crashed in Taiwan’s Kaohsiung, according to the island’s military.
Lieutenant Hsu Ta-chun from the Air Force Academy class of 2021 took off in his AT-3 trainer with the aircraft registration number AR32, tail number 852, at 8:03 am on Monday, Taiwan News reported citing UDN. Hsu, who was born in 1999, was embarking on his second solo flight when his aircraft disappeared from radar at 8:08 am, as per the media outlet.
According to the Kaohsiung city fire bureau, at 8:09 am it received a report of a plane crash at Tianchuo 1st Road in Gangshan district.
As per the preliminary investigation, 5 AT-3 trainers conducted exercises near Tainan City’s Xigang District. When they returned, only four returned safely, and they soon realized one of the pilots was missing.
The Air Force launched a search and rescue mission, but it was soon called off once the crash scene was discovered by Kaohsiung firefighters.
In March, Taiwan’s National Security Bureau (NSB) has confirmed that a Chinese military aircraft crashed into the South China Sea earlier that month.
NSB Director-General Chen Ming-tong on March 10 confirmed that a People’s Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) plane had crashed into the South China Sea on March 1, according to Taiwan News.
Earlier there were reports that a Chinese military patrol plane had crashed off the coast of Vietnam.
However, China never acknowledged the incident, but as per the Taiwanese media there was a sudden drop off in Y-8 flights through Taiwan’s air defense identification zone (ADIZ), with none reported from March 2 to March 7.
Taiwan Society for Strategic Studies researcher Chang Ching on March 7 decried media report as “nonsense,” asserting that China’s military is more open than in the past and that if a crash had occurred, it would not have covered it up, Taiwan News reported. (ANI)