Taiwan media: Taiwan's F-5E/F series fighters have been in service for nearly 50 years, and over 35 crashed and 34 pilots were damaged.

According to Taiwan media reports, this morning, when an F-5E fighter jet of the Taiwan military was performing a training mission, the engine failed due to unknown reasons and crashed into the sea off Taitung. The pilot parachuted to escape and fell into the sea. Although he was rescued by search and rescue personnel and rushed to the hospital for first aid, he died of his injuries. After the incident, Taiwan’s “Air Force Command” stated that Taiwan’s military units equipped with F-5 fighters had completely stopped flying and carried out relevant investigations. Data map of

: Taiwan’s F-5E fighter

Taiwan’s “Air Force Command” revealed at the press conference that there were a total of 1 batch and 2 F-5 fighters lifted off for training missions. -5E (No. 5261) fighter. The Taiwan military also disclosed the operational status of the crashed F-5E fighter aircraft. The aircraft's delivery time was November 14, 1980. The total flight time of the aircraft was 6,260 hours. The last regular inspection period was from September 29, 2019 to December of the same year. On 18th, the service time was 266 hours so far after the overhaul.

Data Map: Data of the pilot who died in the crash today

According to Taiwanese media, the full range of F-5 fighters has been in service in the Taiwan military for more than 55 years, of which the F-5E/F series have served for 47 years, and there have been at least 35 so far. At least 34 pilots were crashed and damaged. The last major accident of this series of military aircraft was in 2011, when two pilots were killed.

Data map: Taiwan’s RF-5E fighter

On September 13, 2011, the RF-5E reconnaissance aircraft number 5506 took off from Hualien Airport and conducted night training with the F-5F fighter aircraft number 5401. The pilots lost their awareness of the terrain. It crashed into a mountain at 114.6 kilometers of Suhua Highway. RF-5E pilot Xiao Wenmin, F-5F pilot Wang Hongxiang and Chang Jianguo all died in the accident. The then "legislator" Lin Yufang once described the series of fighters as "grandfather-class planes" at the time, and believed that the probability of accidents in the future was high.

Taiwan media also pointed out that the Taiwan military originally had seven RF-5Es modified from F-5Es to support exploration activities and disaster rescue. However, the No. 5502 RE-5E modified from the original No. 5316 F-5E and the No. 5506 RF-5E modified from the original No. 5323 F-5E have crashed.