Taiwan finds wreckage of missing Air Force F-16V fighter jet; pilot still untraceable

Taiwan has discovered the wreckage of a missing Air Force F-16V fighter plane that went missing on January 11 during a regular training operation, however, there is no sign of the pilot, according to local media. The rescuers discovered debris from the missing Air Force F-16V fighter on January 12 morning, but there was no evidence of its pilot, the National Rescue Command Center (NRCC) stated, Focus Taiwan reported.

According to the NRCC, debris from the aircraft tyres was first detected by a military UH-60M helicopter at roughly 10:48 am on Wednesday. It did not, however, say where the objects were sighted. Later, at 11:19 am, the Taiwan military confirmed that the wreckage belonged to Captain Chen Yi's jet, serial number 6650. So far, rescuers have been unable to locate Captain Chen Yi, who was being searched for a second day on January 12, according to NRCC.

F-16V jet vanished from radar during a training mission

During a normal training mission in Taiwan on Tuesday, the F-16V jet vanished from radar. The Taiwanese Air Force had begun the search-and-rescue mission to locate the plane, which had taken off at 2:55 pm from Chiayi Air Base. Taiwan's Air Force paused combat training for its F-16 fleet on Tuesday, according to CNN after the recently modified fighter jet crashed into the sea. The aircraft had only recently been upgraded to the "V" type, with new weapons systems and avionics, according to Air Force Inspector-General Liu Hui-chien, according to CNN.

In a similar incident, a F-16 vanished in late 2020 after taking off on a normal training mission from Hualien Air Base on Taiwan's east coast. Two F-5E jets, which originally saw service in Taiwan in the 1970s, crashed into the sea off Taiwan's southeast coast last year after colliding in mid-flight during a training operation.

While Taiwan's air force is well-trained, it has been stretched by regularly scrambling to see off Chinese military aircraft in the last two years, despite the fact that the mishaps are unrelated to the intercept actions. China, which claims Taiwan as its own, has been sending planes into Taiwan's air defence zone on a regular basis, especially in the area near the Taiwan-controlled Pratas Islands, but also occasionally into the airspace between Taiwan and the Philippines.

(With inputs from Agencies)

Image: ANI