RoCAF F-5E Fighter Jet Crashes Off Eastern Taiwan, Pilot Killed
An Republic of China Air Force (ROCAF) F-5E fighter jet crashed during a training mission off the coast of Taitung County in eastern Taiwan Thursday morning killing the pilot.
The pilott, identified as Captain Chu Kuan-meng, was able to eject from the aircraft but suffered an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) and was rushed to Mackay Memorial Hospital for treatment. CNA reported that doctors were unable to resuscitate him, and he was officially declared dead at 9:27 a.m.
The aircraft reportedly took off from Taitung Zhihang air base but crashed within 2 minutes into the sea one mile north of the base.
Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defence confirmed the fatal crash.
A F-5E of #ROCAF crashed offshore of Taitung this morning. Pilot, Captain Chu, ejected but was unfortunately declared deceased after medevac. May he #restinpeace. The mission of guarding our airspace is tough but our airmen stand ready even at this moment of grief. Photo: C.Y.H pic.twitter.com/LkdX3nxD8n
— 國防部 Ministry of National Defense, R.O.C. 🇹🇼 (@MoNDefense) October 29, 2020
Taiwan procured a total of 242 F-5s powered by two J58-GE-21A engines. The first aircraft was delivered to the ROC Air Force in 1974, and the aircraft are still being used for training.