Flight data recorder of crashed jet trainer recovered

Taipei, March 13 (CNA) The military is still salvaging parts of a locally developed and built advanced jet trainer (AJT) that crashed in waters off eastern Taiwan a month ago but has recovered the aircraft's flight data recorder (FDR).

Defense Minister Wellington Koo (顧立雄) told reporters on Thursday that the FDR of the T-BE5A Brave Eagle was recovered on Wednesday afternoon when the commissioned contractor salvaged the forward fuselage of the two-seater transonic AJT, which crashed five nautical miles off Taitung County's coast during a training exercise on Feb. 15.

The military will analyze the FDR and other recovered equipment to determine the exact cause of the crash, Koo added.

Meanwhile, a salvage vessel continues operations off Taitung's coast.

A military source familiar with the matter told CNA that salvage vessels are primarily searching for the Brave Eagle's engine, as its recovery could help determine whether the crash was caused by a bird strike or a mechanical failure.

Citing a magnitude-5.7 earthquake that struck near the site at 1:09 p.m. Thursday, the source said the quake may have shifted the location of the missing engine.

Unveiled in 2019, the Brave Eagle is a domestically developed AJT built by the Aerospace Industrial Development Corp. (AIDC) in partnership with Taiwan's weapons developer, the National Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology.

The crash was the first accident involving a Brave Eagle since the Air Force began receiving the domestically made trainers from AIDC in 2021 to replace its aging AT-3 jet trainers.

The sole occupant, Air Force Major-in-Training Lin Wei (林瑋), successfully ejected and parachuted to safety after both of the aircraft's engines failed.

Following the incident, the Air Force grounded its Brave Eagle fleet that same day and resumed operations on March 5.

The MND said it had received 43 Brave Eagles by March, four fewer than the scheduled 47. It expects to take delivery of all 66 units by 2026.