Director Chi Po-lin (齊柏林) was among three people who died in a helicopter crash in Hualien County’s Fengbin Township (豐濱) yesterday, the county fire department said.
The department said it received word at 11am that the helicopter had crashed.
Upon arriving at the site, rescuers found the bodies of three people, who have been identified as Chi, 52; his assistant Chen Kuan-chi (陳冠齊), 25; and pilot Chang Chi-kuang (張志光), 53.
Photo: CNA, provided by a member of the public
The helicopter was a Bell 206B-3 owned and operated by Emerald Pacific Airlines (凌天航空), the department said.
Emeral Pacific director of operations Huang Wei-chun (黃為君) said the helicopter had taken off from Chihshang Township (池上) at 10:40am with plans to pass over the Huadong Valley (花東縱谷) and Ruisuei Township (瑞穗) before returning to Chihshang.
“We lost contact with the pilot a little over an hour after the helicopter took off from Chihshang,” Huang said.
Screen grab from the Taiwan From Above Facebook account
Chang had worked for the airline for 11 years and had 5,500 hours of flight experience, Huang said, adding that the helicopter had passed service and maintenance checks in April.
The crew was shooting footage for Chi’s sequel to the documentary Beyond Beauty: Taiwan From Above (看見台灣).
Beyond Beauty was a 2013 box-office hit that documented Taiwan using only aerial footage.
Photo: Wang Wen-lin, Taipei Times
Chi on Thursday held a news conference in Taipei to announce production had begun on the sequel.
He said he would film it using 4K ultra-high-definition or higher resolution and was intending to include footage from Japan, New Zealand, Malaysia and China to convey his idea that environmental protection should not be limited by national borders.
Chi had planned underwater footage to show how human activity is affecting the sea.
Photo provided by Taiwan Above Cinema Inc
Chi on Thursday said that he would not use lower-resolution aerial cameras and would insist on using helicopter-mounted cameras for all shots from the air.
Friends and others expressed shock and disbelief at Chi’s death.
Author Wu Nian-jen (吳念真), who narrated Beyond Beauty, yesterday said that he had spoken with Chi on Friday and offered him encouragement to focus on the filming and not to worry about funding.
“Chi said he would ask me to take a look at the rough footage at some point,” Wu said.
National Chengchi University professor Chen Fang-ming (陳芳明) said it was truly a sad day.
While there are many idealists in the world, and some act on their ideals, Chi was the director he admired the most, he said.
“One feels pride for Taiwan after watching any of the films he directed,” Chen Fang-ming said.
“This generation of Taiwanese has suffered a loss at the passing of Chi, a man who had a conscience and was willing to devote himself to a cause,” said director Lu Chien-chang (盧建彰), who was a friend of Chi’s.
President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) wrote on Facebook that she and all Taiwanese were shocked and saddened at Chi’s passing.
Executive Yuan spokesperson Hsu Kuo-yung (徐國勇) offered the Cabinet’s condolences to the family of the late director, who had worked with the military to document stories of the air force.
Chi began shooting aerial photography during his days at the Ministry of Transportation and Communications, helping document important construction projects, mostly highways.
Chi was deeply moved by the damage Typhoon Morakot wrought upon Siaolin Village (小林) in what was then Kaohsiung County after torrential rain triggered mudslides there in 2008.
The public was unable to get a proper sense of the importance of environmental protection, because they had no access to such footage and scenes, Chi said at the time.
He said it was that experience that led him to shoot Beyond Beauty, adding that he left his job in the public sector to devote his time to creating the documentary.
In 2011, Chi said he hoped to be the eye in the sky for Taiwanese and show them the beautiful scenery he had seen.
The Civil Aeronautics Administration is investigating the crash.
A Ministry of Foreign Affairs official yesterday said that a delegation that visited China for an APEC meeting did not receive any kind of treatment that downgraded Taiwan’s sovereignty. Department of International Organizations Director-General Jonathan Sun (孫儉元) said that he and a group of ministry officials visited Shenzhen, China, to attend the APEC Informal Senior Officials’ Meeting last month. The trip went “smoothly and safely” for all Taiwanese delegates, as the Chinese side arranged the trip in accordance with long-standing practices, Sun said at the ministry’s weekly briefing. The Taiwanese group did not encounter any political suppression, he said. Sun made the remarks when
The Taiwanese passport ranked 33rd in a global listing of passports by convenience this month, rising three places from last month’s ranking, but matching its position in January last year. The Henley Passport Index, an international ranking of passports by the number of designations its holder can travel to without a visa, showed that the Taiwan passport enables holders to travel to 139 countries and territories without a visa. Singapore’s passport was ranked the most powerful with visa-free access to 192 destinations out of 227, according to the index published on Tuesday by UK-based migration investment consultancy firm Henley and Partners. Japan’s and
BROAD AGREEMENT: The two are nearing a trade deal to reduce Taiwan’s tariff to 15% and a commitment for TSMC to build five more fabs, a ‘New York Times’ report said Taiwan and the US have reached a broad consensus on a trade deal, the Executive Yuan’s Office of Trade Negotiations said yesterday, after a report said that Washington is set to reduce Taiwan’s tariff rate to 15 percent. The New York Times on Monday reported that the two nations are nearing a trade deal to reduce Taiwan’s tariff rate to 15 percent and commit Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) to building at least five more facilities in the US. “The agreement, which has been under negotiation for months, is being legally scrubbed and could be announced this month,” the paper said,
MIXED SOURCING: While Taiwan is expanding domestic production, it also sources munitions overseas, as some, like M855 rounds, are cheaper than locally made ones Taiwan and the US plan to jointly produce 155mm artillery shells, as the munition is in high demand due to the Ukraine-Russia war and should be useful in Taiwan’s self-defense, Armaments Bureau Director-General Lieutenant General Lin Wen-hsiang (林文祥) told lawmakers in Taipei yesterday. Lin was responding to questions about Taiwan’s partnership with allies in producing munitions at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee. Given the intense demand for 155mm artillery shells in Ukraine’s defense against the Russian invasion, and in light of Taiwan’s own defensive needs, Taipei and Washington plan to jointly produce 155mm shells, said Lin,
RSS