Taiwan loses F-5F says Xinhua

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One Taiwan fighter plane crashes with one dead
2006-06-17 09:59:43

BEIJING, June 17 (Xinhua) -- A Taiwan's F-5F two-seat fighter plane fell and smashed in the farmland in Chiayi County of Taiwan with one pilot killed and another injured at 7:30 a.m. on Saturday, according to the Taiwan local media.

The fighter plane was burnt after it crashed. One pilot died on the spot. Another injured pilot has been sent to hospital by helicopter, local media said.

The fighter plane crashed in a training flight from the Taidong County to Chiayi County, said the local media. Enditem

Ah, glad to hear one of the pilots survived. All these plane crashes lately have been getting me depressed.

Kampfwagen said:

Ah, glad to hear one of the pilots survived.

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Is he going to pull through? I heard he was in a critical condition last time. Hope the dead pilot's family can get through this.

Yeah, there have been a lot of air-crash related deaths recently in the Far East. First the China plane, then this and then the Korean crash. Hasn't been a good few last weeks.

What was the cause of the crash? And when will Taiwan replace the aging F-5s?

DPRKUnderground said:

What was the cause of the crash? And when will Taiwan replace the aging F-5s?

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The cause is still under investigation - "technical problems" is all they've said so far.

Well the F-5s have been replaced to a large extent, by the F-16s, Mirages and IDFs. Up to 60 F-16 C/Ds are on the cards to be ordered from the US.

I'm not sure what role the F-5 plays in its reduced numbers these days. Obviously training is one. But they're not front-line equipment any more. Apparently some have been mocked up to look like IDFs and parked around certain airbases.