TAIPEI — A Taiwanese air force aircraft crashed during a training mission on Tuesday, killing two pilots on board, the defense ministry said in a statement. The T-34C aircraft went down at about 8.08am at Gangshan Air Base in Kaohsiung in southern Taiwan while conducting a simulated engine-failure exercise, according to the island’s air force. Both pilots on board, Lieutenant Colonel Kuo Chun-nan and Lieutenant Colonel Lu Chi-yu, were killed. The crash prompted renewed scrutiny of the island’s ageing fleet of T-34 basic trainers. The planes were first delivered to Taiwan in 1984. Following the accident, the island’s air force suspended all T-34C flight training operations and ordered fleet-wide inspections. The air force has set up a task force to investigate what caused the crash. At a news conference on Tuesday afternoon, officials said the flight was meant to assess the front-seat instructor pilot’s handling of emergency procedures, with an examining pilot seated in the rear cockpit. No distress calls or reports of technical problems were transmitted before the accident, officials said, adding that the aircraft remained within the airfield’s designated training area throughout the flight. Both pilots were found inside the aircraft when rescue teams arrived at the scene. President Lai Ching-te said he was “deeply saddened” at the loss of life, describing the pilots as “heroic” and thanking them for their “sacrifice and dedication” to Taiwan. Taiwan’s air force uses Beechcraft single-engine propeller planes as the primary trainer aircraft for its pilots, according to the defense ministry’s website.
Keep Up to Date with our Weekly Newsletter
