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Taiwan
ChinaMilitary

Taiwan air force jet makes hard landing in US after equipment failure

  • Incident is the latest in a string of accidents for the island’s armed forces
  • Aircraft was making refuelling stop in Hawaii as landing gear failed, reports say

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A Taiwanese F-16 fighter jet made a forced landing in Hawaii. Photo: Twitter
Lawrence Chung

A Taiwanese F-16 fighter jet was forced to make a hard landing at an airport in Hawaii after its landing gear failed to deploy on Monday, according to media reports.

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No one was injured in the incident but the hard landing is the latest in a series of accidents to befall Taiwan’s military since an upgraded version of the F-16V crashed in the sea off the west coast of Taiwan and killed the pilot in January.

According to media outlets in Hawaii and Taiwan on Tuesday, the F-16 belonged to the Taiwanese air force and had been used for training missions at the US Luke Air Force Base in Arizona.

It was to make a refuelling stop in Honolulu before flying back to the self-ruled island.

The pilot used the jet’s tail hook to slow down after the front landing gear failed, the Honolulu Star-Advertiser reported, citing Department of Transportation officials in Honolulu.

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The officials said the jet did not appear to suffer serious damage and there were no reports of injuries, according to the report.

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