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TAIPEI: A Taiwanese air force pilot was killed and another went missing on Monday (March 22) after their fighter jets disappeared in an alleged mid-air collision off the island’s southern coast, authorities said.
The two F-5E jets disappeared from radar around 3 p.m. (0700 GMT) about 2.6 kilometers off the coast of rural Pingtung County, the National Rescue Command Center said.
They were among the four F-5Es that took off about 30 minutes earlier for a routine training mission, the center said, adding that helicopters and coast guard boats had joined the search.
One of the pilots was found unconscious at sea but could not be resuscitated and was pronounced dead at the hospital.
Rescuers were still searching for the remaining pilot. Police confirmed they found a parachute seat on a local road.
The apparent collision was the third such incident in the past half year, at a time when the armed forces of the island claimed by Beijing are under increasing pressure to intercept Chinese planes almost daily.
While Taiwan’s air force is well-trained and well-equipped, primarily with US-made equipment, it is dwarfed by China’s. Beijing views the democratic island as its own territory and has never renounced the use of force to bring it under Chinese control.
The official Central News Agency said the air force had grounded the fleet of F-5s operating from Chihhang Air Base, where the aircraft is based.
US-built F-5 fighters first entered service in Taiwan in the late 1970s and have mostly been retired from front-line activities, although some are still used for training and as backup for the main fleet.
Another F-5 crashed in October, killing the pilot. The following month, a much more modern F-16 crashed off the east coast of Taiwan, the pilot of which was also killed.
In January last year, Taiwan’s top military officer was among eight people killed after a helicopter carrying them to visit soldiers crashed in a mountainous area near the capital, Taipei.
The incidents have raised concerns for both training and maintenance, but also the pressure the air force is under to respond to repeated Chinese flights near the island.
The Taiwanese Ministry of Defense has warned that Chinese aircraft, including drones, are repeatedly flying in Taiwan’s air defense identification zone, seeking to wear down the Taiwanese air force.
