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[global times special correspondent chen lifei] a single-seat mirage 2000 fighter jet of the taiwan air force lost power and crashed into the sea during night training off the coast of hsinchu on the evening of september 10. the pilot on board parachuted to escape, but this fighter jet has had nine major accidents since it entered service in 1997, and whether it should be phased out has sparked discussion on the island.

the rescue process was full of twists and turns

according to the taiwan's china times on the 11th, taiwan military pilot xie peixun had a total of 710 hours of flight time. he took off from the hsinchu base at 8:05 pm on the 10th in a single-seat mirage 2000 fighter jet with the number 2047. at 8:35 pm, he found that the power failed during the return process and then ejected. the taiwan "ministry of national defense", search and rescue center and "coast guard administration" immediately launched rescue operations. the taiwan "air force second wing" said that xie peixun was found off the coast of nanliao at 10:22 pm on the 10th, and the patrol boat completed the personnel transfer at 10:40 pm. xie was conscious at the time and was immediately sent to the hospital for further examination.

taiwan's united news network disclosed on the 11th that the rescue process was full of twists and turns and quite exhausting. after the accident, the ministry of national defense required all other fighter planes at the hsinchu base to return to the base and stop night flight training. the taiwan air force command dispatched s-70c andc-130 transport aircraftthey went to the waters off hsinchu to conduct search and rescue operations, and finally located the location of the crashed "mirage" fighter, and also found xie peixun, who had been drifting on the sea for nearly two hours. it was originally planned that the coast guard ship would return to the port at high speed and send xie directly to the taiwan army hsinchu hospital by ambulance. unexpectedly, the tide had just passed in hsinchu fishing port at that time, and the tide in the port with an average water depth of 3 meters had receded to almost the bottom, and the coast guard ship could not enter the port at all. so they had to switch to helicopter suspension, but they did not expect that the deck of the rescue coast guard ship was too small, and the helicopter could not be successfully suspended, so they changed to another large ship. after several twists and turns, the plan to transfer the ship failed, so the coast guard ship had to be sent directly to taichung port with sufficient depth, and then to a general hospital 10 minutes away by car. however, due to the relatively long distance between the crash site and taichung port, the ship did not dock until about 1 a.m. on the 11th. xie peixun was immediately sent to the hospital by ambulance, a full two hours later than expected.

engine failure? bird strike?

as for the cause of the crash, the taiwan air force simply said "engine failure". on the 11th, the hsinchu air force wing said it would set up an investigation team to salvage the black box of the crashed fighter and find out the cause of the crash. currently, the mirage fleet will have to wait until the evaluation is completed before resuming training missions.

zhang yanting, former deputy commander of the taiwan air force, initially analyzed that there might be a problem with the engine, because the mirage fighter is the only one of the three main fighters on the island that has not been upgraded and has no spare engine. once the engine has a problem, the pilot has only one way to deal with it, which is to eject and parachute. especially at night when the sea is dark, the pilot cannot judge the distance to the sea surface and can only rely on feeling, so parachuting at night is very dangerous. zhang yanting said that the french original factory no longer produces engines for the mirage fighter, and the taiwan military can only keep overhauling them. in addition, the engine has not been upgraded, so the flight risk is relatively high. in addition, it is difficult to salvage the fighter after such an accident because of tides and currents, and the position is changeable. it is also possible that it is stuck in the depression of the mountain under the sea, which is even more difficult to detect by sonar.

senior retired personnel on the island believe that bird strikes cannot be ruled out. taiwan's china times electronic news reported on the 11th that after the crashed fighter jet landed during flight training on the afternoon of the 10th, bird strikes were found on the fuselage, but after inspection, it was released again at night, but unexpectedly a malfunction occurred. "whether the two are related is still under investigation by the air force." in addition, the taiwan air force dispatched s-70c and ec-225 in succession on the evening of the 10th, but various problems were reported. "whether the proper rate of the search and rescue fleet has also been affected will be included in the review direction."

in fact, this is the ninth major accident of the taiwan military's mirage fighter since it entered service in 1997. the first accident occurred in october 1999, when a mirage fighter was performing night flight training. shortly after takeoff, it was suspected that the engine was hit by a bird, and the power was lost. rescue was ineffective and the plane crashed off the coast of hsinchu. the two pilots parachuted to rescue. in december of the same year, a mirage disappeared during a single-aircraft night flight confrontation exercise, and the pilot also disappeared. in november 2001, a mirage crashed off the coast of hsinchu while performing a training mission. a year later, the fighter took off and made an emergency landing after taking off, suspected of being hit by a bird, and caught fire. the two pilots escaped. the fifth accident occurred overseas. in october 2012, taiwan military pilot wang tongyi crashed a mirage while performing a mission in france, and the pilot died in the crash. in may 2013, a mirage no. 2052 crashed into the sea during a refit flight training, and the two pilots parachuted to rescue. in november 2017, a pilot went missing while flying a mirage fighter jet at night and was declared dead the following year. the eighth time was in march 2022, when a taiwan military pilot crashed into the sea while flying a mirage 2000 off the coast of taitung. the pilot parachuted and was rescued. united news network concluded that the past eight accidents have resulted in "five deaths and six aircraft damage."

the fighter plane that dare not be eliminated

according to taiwanese media reports, lai qingde and taiwan's "defense minister" gu lixiong arrived at the hospital to visit xie peixun on the morning of the 11th. a reporter at the scene asked "do you want to conduct a thorough investigation of the 9 mirage crashes?", but lai qingde did not respond. zhang yanting posted on facebook to call on relevant units: "have the pilots been overly fatigued for a long time? in addition, the 'mirage' fighter has been in service in the taiwan military for nearly 30 years. is it time to replace it with a new model?"

last may, taiwan's want daily reported that the taiwan air force intended to purchase f/a-18e "super hornet" fighters to replace the "mirage 2000" which had no hope of upgrading. the china times said that because the "mirage" was expensive to maintain and had a long waiting time for parts, when the taiwan air force purchased 66 f-16v fighters from the united states, they once discussed whether to eliminate the "mirage"; both factions had opinions, but in the end they decided to keep the "mirage". one of the considerations was that the military situation on both sides of the taiwan strait was severe, and the "mirage" was responsible for high-altitude interception missions and could not be easily eliminated. lu deyun, a senior military scholar on the island, said that whether the united states would sell the f-18 was secondary. the real question was that if they did sell it, in addition to the existing f-16s, the taiwan military's main fighters would also include the "chiang ching-kuo", the "mirage 2000" and the 66 brand-new f-16s that had not yet been delivered. would the taiwan military have enough pilots to fly them?

the china times said on the 11th that the 60 mirage 2000 fighters purchased by the taiwan air force from france have been in service for more than 25 years. the f-16 and ching kuo fighters that served at the same time have all been upgraded in performance, but the mirage has not been upgraded. it is facing the situation that the reliability of parts has decreased and the failure rate has increased due to the long-term use of parts. after taking into account factors such as maintenance costs, the mirage fighters are sealed and not flown every year, and the number of aircraft will change every year. according to the report, in general, the taiwan air force will remove some parts of the mirage fighters for maintenance of other fighters, and the fighters with removed parts will be sealed, and the parts will be sent by the french side, and then the aircraft will be unsealed, and the cycle will continue, resulting in accidents. the article also stated that lai qingde's cross-strait policy has made the military situation in the taiwan strait more severe. the pla military aircraft fly around taiwan almost every day, and are getting closer and closer. the pressure on the pilots on the island can be imagined. the mirage fighter is the only one of the three main fighters that has not been upgraded in performance, and the aircraft serviceability rate is really worrying.