Black box of missing F-16 retrieved after long search: Air Force

Taipei, March 17 (CNA) Taiwan's military has found and retrieved the flight data recorder (FDR) of an F-16V fighter jet that disappeared off eastern Taiwan in January and will soon send it to its manufacturer in the United States to decode the data.

In a statement Tuesday, the Air Force Command Headquarters said the salvage company responsible for the mission successfully retrieved the FDR, better known as the black box, in waters off Taiwan on Monday.

The Air Force did not disclose the exact location where the black box was found, but it said the device had been moved ashore and would be sent for decoding to determine the cause of the plane's disappearance.

The single-seat fighter jet, tail number 6700, piloted by Captain Hsin Po-yi (辛柏毅), went missing on Jan. 6 after taking off from Hualien Air Base in eastern Taiwan at 6:17 p.m. on a nighttime training mission and heading south.

Hsin soon reported that the aircraft was losing altitude, according to the Air Force.

At 7:28 p.m., Hsin reported that he was about to eject from the aircraft. Eight seconds later, the jet's signal disappeared from radar while it was flying off the coast of Fengbin in Hualien County, the Air Force said.

The Air Force subsequently set up an emergency response center and launched a search and rescue operation, but it has not been able to find Hsin.

It has since speculated that there may have been a malfunction in the aircraft's main onboard computer, but its investigation to pinpoint the cause has continued.