Taiwan Today

A National Airborne Services Corps helicopter on a rescue and relief mission in the wake of Typhoon Morakot crashed in a mountainous region of Pingtung County Aug. 11. All three crewmembers, including pilot Chang Shun-fa, co-pilot Wang Tsung-li and crew chief Huang Mei-chih, were killed when their UH-1H chopper went down at 3:32 p.m. in the Yila Valley while carrying relief supplies to Wutai Township in the southern county. An eye-witness from an aboriginal village in the area said he saw smoke coming from the helicopter’s tail as it circled in the sky three times before descending into a mountain cliff. The witness said he heard a loud bang and only saw the chopper roll down the mountain slope into the valley. He surmised that the helicopter’s tail had hit an old cable used by villagers for transporting goods before crashing. Captain Chen Chung-hsien of the NASC said that the chopper had arrived in Pingtung the day before to engage in rescue and relief operations. It had flown five missions during the next morning, transporting a total of 2,100 kilograms of relief supplies and lifting 50 people and four bodies from the disaster area. In the afternoon, the helicopter transported two search and rescue workers—Chen Shih-hsiun and Lin Chien-hsing—to the area on its first mission. The crash occurred about 500 meters downstream from the village of Yila during the chopper’s second mission to transport 300 kilograms of supplies. Chen and Lin heard the loud crash and immediately notified the NASC captain who then dispatched a rescue helicopter to the area. As the crash happened in steeply sloped terrain, the ground rescue team had to head to the site on foot and was only expected to arrive there at around 9 p.m. Chen Chung-hsien said that weather conditions were a possible cause of the crash, noting the poor visibility in the area at the time. He added that the age of the helicopter was another possible factor. The chopper was built in 1976 and had flown a total of 5,950 hours. It had undergone inspection and maintenance June 15 and still had another 113 hours left before its next scheduled maintenance, he pointed out. Further investigations will be needed to determine the real cause of the accident, he said. Chen noted that the NASC has a total of 16 UH-1H helicopters, including seven that have been assigned for rescue and relief operations in Pingtung, some of which are older than the chopper that crashed Aug.11. (SB)