• Military

• WMD Menu                           

• Introduction
• Systems
• Facilities
• Agencies
• Operations
• Countries
• Hot Documents
• News
• Reports
• Policy
• Budget
• Congress
• Links

• Intelligence
• Homeland Security
• Space

Salvage of Mirage 2000 jet will begin when weather improves: Air Force

ROC Central News Agency

03/24/2022 09:04 PM

Taipei, March 24 (CNA) Taiwan's Air Force said Thursday it was waiting for the weather and sea conditions to stabilize before starting work on the salvage of a Mirage 2000 fighter jet that crashed earlier this month off the country's east coast.

According to Air Force spokesperson Wang Tzu-li (王自立), the military had picked up signals from the jet's "black box," or flight recorder, after the plane crashed into the sea on March 14.

Due to the poor weather and sea conditions over the past weeks, however, the Air Force has not been able to start salvaging the plane, Wang told CNA.

He said the Air Force has determined that the black box is still inside the aircraft, but a strong ocean current is now carrying the wreckage away from the crash site.

The salvage mission will have to begin soon before the current carries the plane into an underwater canyon, which will make the work very difficult, Wang said.

He also said that at the time of the crash, the jet was carrying four missiles, which have not been detonated.

The Mirage 2000-5 jet fighter, serial number 2017, took off from Taitung Air Base in eastern Taiwan at 10:08 a.m. on March 14 on a routine training mission, piloted by 38-year-old Lieutenant Colonel Huang Chung-kai (黃重凱).

About an hour later, Huang reported to the base that the aircraft had developed a "mechanical malfunction," and he safely ejected at 11:26 a.m., about 10 nautical miles south of the Taitung Air Base.

He was picked up at sea off the Taitung coast at 12:06 p.m. by a UH-60M helicopter, which took him back to the base. He was then taken to hospital and kept under observation for two days, after which he was discharged, as he was found to have no injuries.

According to the Air Force, initial indications are that a mechanical malfunction caused the crash, but that will have to be determined after the aircraft and its black box are found.

(By Tayson Lu and Joseph Yeh)

Enditem/pc