Taipei, July 15 (DPA) A Taiwanese Air Force F-5F jet is believed to have crashed during a training missing over the Taiwan Strait Wednesday morning.
The twin-seat F-5F took off from the Chingchuangkang Air Base on the west coast at 11.14 a.m. for an air-to-land shooting drill near the Penghu Islands in the Taiwan Strait, but vanished from the radar at 11.36 a.m., the air force said.
An S-70C helicopter and ships despatched to search for the missing jet and pilots found some plane wreckage and a blood-stained life saver, Hsieh Mao-sung, spokesman for the air base, told a news conference.
“We are continuing the search and are trying to determine if the wreckage belong to the missing F-5F,” he said.
Taiwan Air Force is gradually phasing out the outdated F-5Fs after it ordered 150 US F-16 A/Bs and 60 French Mirages 2000-5s in 1992.
