Team News Riveting
A Taiwan Air Force F-16V Block 20 jet crashed during an afternoon bombing exercise near the coastline of Chiayi County’s Dongshih Township on Tuesday.
The crash of Taiwan’s most advanced fighter jet dealt a blow to the self-ruled island’s military, which has hoped to use the warplanes to counter growing pressure from China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA).
China has been sending warplanes to Taiwan’s air defence identification zone almost daily, which is seen as designed not only to ramp up pressure on the island but also to exhaust its air force and pilots.
The single-seat jet (serial number 6650) disappeared from radar screens at 3:23pm, about 30 minutes after it took off from Chiayi Air Base, air force Inspector General Major General Liu Hui-chien told a news conference in Taipei.
All F-16Vs are temporarily suspended from exercises pending the completion of emergency checks on the fleet, he said.
The fighter piloted by air force Captain Chen Yi was taking part in an exercise over the Shueisi Bombing Range near the Aogu Wetland when it vanished, Liu said, adding that its last known location was 100m north of a floating target on the range.
Investigators had not ruled out weather conditions, maintenance failure or pilot error as the cause of the apparent crash, he said.
Visibility and cloud conditions were within safety parameters appropriate to the exercise, he said.
A massive search operation has been launched to trace the debris of the jet and the missing pilot.
