Pilot killed after two Taiwan air force training jets collide mid-air

Two Taiwan air force jets collided mid-air during a routine training flight in southern Taiwan on Tuesday, killing one pilot, the air force said.

The accident occurred shortly after the AT-3 training jet, code number 0815, of the air force aerobatic team “Thunder Tigers,” took off from Gangshan air force base in Kaohsiung with another AT-3 training jet from the same team at 11:10am, an air force officer said.

“Code 0815 crashed in a banana farm in Chikuan and the pilot was hospitalised,” said Wang Chou-hsuan, political warfare director of the air force.

Police said they found the pilot still attached to his parachute at the farm with no signs of life. He was rushed to hospital for emergency treatment.

Doctors at the Gangshan base hospital later confirmed that the pilot, identified as Chuang Pei-yuan, later died.

Air force officers said initial finding showed the ill-fated plane collided with another AT-3 jet, code number 0847, mid-air. Code 0847 returned to base at 11:24am with the pilot Yang Chih-ping safe.