The bodies of two Republic of China Air Force pilots who were killed in a crash last week were received by grieving family members at the Air Force Academy yesterday.
The bodies of 32-year-old Major Wang Ching-chun (王勁鈞) and 23-year-old First Lieutenant Huang Chun-jung (黃俊榮) were flown from the crash site in Hualien to the academy in Kaohsiung.
The pilots were killed after their AT-3 training aircraft crashed in mountainous terrain during a routine training flight.
Photo: Su Fu-nan, Taipei Times
The tearful fathers of the pilots waited on the tarmac at the academy and murmured to their fallen loved ones after they were unloaded, while air force personnel stood at attention.
The bodies were sent by ambulance to a funeral parlor.
Family members who waited next to the ambulance were seen weeping and one person was heard saying: “I do not want this.”
Wang is survived by his wife, who is a teacher, a daughter and a nine-month-old son.
Wang, who had clocked 1,489 flight hours, was a flight instructor at the academy, while Huang had 116 hours of flying experience.
Sources said Wang was in the front seat of the plane and Huang was in the back when the plane crashed.
The bodies and aircraft debris were found in a forested area of Hualien County early on Saturday afternoon after days of search and rescue efforts, the military said.
A committee has been set up to investigate the incident, it said.
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