A Taiwanese military F-16A-20-CF, operated by the 5th Tactical Fighter Wing, 26th Tactical Fighter Group, is missing. Search operations are being conducted.
Taiwan’s United News Network just reported that an F-16 fighter plane of the Taiwan Army disappeared from the radar spot during night flight training tonight.
Regarding this, Taiwan’s “Air Force” Fifth Wing confirmed that a fighter plane was missing, and other information is being understood.
The report also quoted a report from Taiwan’s defense department at 6:30 tonight, saying that at 6:5 tonight, an F-16 fighter plane took off from Hualien for night flight training and disappeared from the radar spot at 6:17 in the evening.
It is 8 miles (about 14 kilometers) northeast of Hualien Airport. At 6:25 p.m., the defense department sent a “Black Hawk” helicopter to search and rescue, and notified relevant departments to assist in the search.
According to media reports, the missing aircraft numbered 6672, is an F-16A piloted by Colonel Chiang Cheng-chih (蔣正志), 44 years old, of the 26th Tactical Fighter Group.
Taiwan purchased 150 F-16 fighters from the United States in 1992. Since the first batch of fighters arrived in Taiwan in 1997, there have been 8 crashes or missing connections.
Since the beginning of this year, the Taiwan military has crashed or lost connection with 4 military aircraft, including UH-60M Black Hawk helicopters, OH-58D reconnaissance helicopters, F-5E fighters, and the F-16 fighter aircraft this time, causing more than 10 deaths.
