This year’s Han Kuang military exercises were marred yesterday afternoon by the crash of an army helicopter at Hsinchu Air Force Base that killed the pilot and copilot.
A Bell OH-58D Kiowa Warrior crashed at 3:28pm, the third crash of a Bell OH-58D in the past two years, although the first incident, in March 2018, and the second on May 10 did not result in any injuries or deaths.
The helicopter had made a provisioning stop at the base and then left at 3:25pm to return to Longtan Air Force Base in Taoyuan’s Longtan District (龍潭), Army Command Headquarters said.
Photo: Ritchie B. Tongo, EPA-EFE
The pilot, Major Chien Jen-chuan (簡任專), reported that the rotor speed was too low and he needed to make an emergency return to the Hsinchu base, Commander of the Army General Chen Pao-yu (陳寶餘) said.
The helicopter had reached an altitude of 400m before Chien reported that the rotor speed was too low, Chen said.
Chien tried to perform a 180-degree autorotation maneuver to land at the base and avoid civilian residences, but it could have been that the rotor speed was too low to complete the maneuver, Aviation and Special Forces Command 601 Brigade’s Major-General Chang Tai-sung (張台松) said.
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
Chien and Captain Kao Chia-lung (高嘉隆) were rushed to a nearby hospital, but resuscitation efforts failed and they were pronounced dead.
The command said that it had grounded all 36 of its remaining US-made Bell OH-58D Kiowa Warriors until the results of a thorough investigations are known, but general safety inspections would be carried out in the meantime.
A task force has been assembled to investigate the incident, it said.
The command said that it would provide assistance to Chien’s and Kao’s families, who would receive pension payouts for the two men dying in the line of duty.
President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) wrote on Facebook that she had told the Ministry of National Defense to provide the families with all the assistance they require.
The deaths of Chien and Kao were a sad loss for the army, as well as the entire nation, she wrote.
Tsai called on the military to keep its spirits up, and for the public to offer its full support.
Additional reporting by CNA
DISCONTENT: The CCP finds positive content about the lives of the Chinese living in Taiwan threatening, as such video could upset people in China, an expert said Chinese spouses of Taiwanese who make videos about their lives in Taiwan have been facing online threats from people in China, a source said yesterday. Some young Chinese spouses of Taiwanese make videos about their lives in Taiwan, often speaking favorably about their living conditions in the nation compared with those in China, the source said. However, the videos have caught the attention of Chinese officials, causing the spouses to come under attack by Beijing’s cyberarmy, they said. “People have been messing with the YouTube channels of these Chinese spouses and have been harassing their family members back in China,”
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said there are four weather systems in the western Pacific, with one likely to strengthen into a tropical storm and pose a threat to Taiwan. The nascent tropical storm would be named Usagi and would be the fourth storm in the western Pacific at the moment, along with Typhoon Yinxing and tropical storms Toraji and Manyi, the CWA said. It would be the first time that four tropical cyclones exist simultaneously in November, it added. Records from the meteorology agency showed that three tropical cyclones existed concurrently in January in 1968, 1991 and 1992.
GEOPOLITICAL CONCERNS: Foreign companies such as Nissan, Volkswagen and Konica Minolta have pulled back their operations in China this year Foreign companies pulled more money from China last quarter, a sign that some investors are still pessimistic even as Beijing rolls out stimulus measures aimed at stabilizing growth. China’s direct investment liabilities in its balance of payments dropped US$8.1 billion in the third quarter, data released by the Chinese State Administration of Foreign Exchange showed on Friday. The gauge, which measures foreign direct investment (FDI) in China, was down almost US$13 billion for the first nine months of the year. Foreign investment into China has slumped in the past three years after hitting a record in 2021, a casualty of geopolitical tensions,
‘SOMETHING SPECIAL’: Donald Trump vowed to reward his supporters, while President William Lai said he was confident the Taiwan-US partnership would continue Donald Trump was elected the 47th president of the US early yesterday morning, an extraordinary comeback for a former president who was convicted of felony charges and survived two assassination attempts. With a win in Wisconsin, Trump cleared the 270 electoral votes needed to clinch the presidency. As of press time last night, The Associated Press had Trump on 277 electoral college votes to 224 for US Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic Party’s nominee, with Alaska, Arizona, Maine, Michigan and Nevada yet to finalize results. He had 71,289,216 votes nationwide, or 51 percent, while Harris had 66,360,324 (47.5 percent). “We’ve been through so