RoCAF Thunder TIgers pilot killed in midair collision

Video has been released of the RoCAF Thunder Tigers flying together, and suffering a midair collision. The impact caused the AT-3 trainer flown by Lt. Col. Chuang Pei-yuan to crash, killing him. The other AT-3, flown by Lt. Col. Yang Chih-ping, suffered minor damage, and was able to land safely, reports say that he lost the left horizontal stabilizer. The team was scheduled to do the flyover at the start of the 2014 Citizens Games on Saturday. That flyover has been canceled. Reports say that Col. Pei-yuan stayed with the aircraft to avoid a residential area, there are reports that his chute didn't deploy fully. The two aircraft were #4 and #6 flown by the team.

www.taiwannews.com.tw...



AT-3

Debris

Is that the collision at 7 seconds, or had it taken place before the video began? I am trying to determine whether they were performing extremely close and quick maneuvers, or if they appear to be doing so because the jet had already been hit, and the pilot was fighting for control. It also appears that it was not the fault of the pilot who crashed, unless he was supposed to do something else, since he looks to be the one who was struck by the jet that performed the dive. It looks like he dove right into his wing. Of course that is only if the crash was what happens at 7 seconds, which does appear to be the case, considering they are so close, and that is when the plane starts losing control and descending. Flying jets is a dangerous job, and it is made more dangerous when flying in close formation, and especially when performing flight maneuvers with other aircraft so close. This is tragic, and I imagine that one of the only reasons it doesn't happen more often is that fighter pilots usually have an excellent grasp on their aircraft's performance, and they can react quickly. So basically their skill, along with safety procedures, is what prevents more air mishaps in my opinion. The pilot had the presence of mind to guide the aircraft away from populated areas to the best of his ability, and that was quite a heroic act, since otherwise he could have tried ejecting sooner.

a reply to: JiggyPotamus

It's really hard to tell but it looks like the initial impact was at the 7 second mark, and then he tried to get up and get control of it, and rode it in after that.

www.wantchinatimes.com...

AT-3 training has been suspended pending safety checks, lt. gen. Wang Hsuan-chou, director of the Political Warfare Department under Air Force Headquarters, said Tuesday.

The pilot, lt. col. Chuang Pei-yuan, tried to parachute to safety not long before the plane came down in a field in Zihguan district in Kaohsiung, but he ejected at too low an altitude and his parachute did not open fully, the Air Force said.

Chuang's plane crashed during the routine training mission in Kaohsiung after colliding with another AT-3 trainer flown by lt. col. Yang Chih-ping. Yang's plane was not badly damaged and landed safely at the Air Force Academy in Kaohsiung, the Air Force said.

Yang was uninjured but was taken to hospital for a checkup and counselling, Wang said.

This video from 2012 shows the Thunder Tigers at an air show at Hsinchu AFB.

The maneuver also looks similar to the one in the OP...

Looks like an aileron came off.
Hard to keep the plane stable at that point.

Lots of aircraft crashes lately. Could training be to blame? The Air Force definitely has an issues with training properly. Too many shortcuts are taught instead of the right way.

a reply to: Murgatroid

I'd say that's it.


At least the other guy was able to bring his back. Could have been worse, but a shame all the same.

Wow, this was about 10 miles from my in-laws house. Looks like the hit each other while practicing a rolling scissors.

Here is a local news report with additional pics and info if you read Chinese:

tw.news.yahoo.com...

(warning: some of the photos in the above link may be disturbing to those used to US media reporting)