A Taipei court issued a ruling Thursday ordering the nation’s Air Force to pay a total of NT$4.66 million (US$167,442) in compensation to the parents of an F-16 pilot killed during a 2018 drill due to negligence on the part of five others.
The Taipei District Court made the ruling after the father and mother of Major Wu Yen-ting (???) both separately filed suit against the Air Force at the district court asking for NT$10.89 million and NT$11.10 million compensation, respectively, over the death of their son.
Citing the impeachment issued by government oversight body the Control Yuan in 2020 — which blamed the fatal crash on the negligence on military officers Shih Ching-nien (???), Lai Wen-sheng (???), Lu I-shun (???), Chuang Chun-yuan (???) and Ou Chien-fei (???) — the court ordered the Air Force to pay NT$2.22 million to Wu’s father and NT$2.43 million to his mother.
The total was determined after deducting compensation the Taiwan government had already paid to Wu’s family, according to the court.
The Air Force on Thursday, meanwhile, said it was considering appealing the ruling to the Taiwan High Court.
According to a motion passed on Feb. 4, 2020, the Control Yuan said that before the crash in the afternoon on June 4, 2018, Wu had twice asked the Air Force’s Air Operations Center whether he could ascend since he was having difficulty getting a clear view due to heavy clouds.
However, military officers made an incorrect decision due to lack of preparation or carelessness, which ultimately led to the F-16 being unable to climb above 610 meters before it crashed into Wufen Mountain in New Taipei City’s Rueifang District (??), according to the motion.
Shih, Lai and Lu were responsible for charting the wrong flight route for Wu’s jet, which led to it flying into the mountain, the Control Yuan report said.
Chuang, meanwhile, was tasked with coordinating with civilian air traffic controllers during the drill, but he completely forgot about the mission and did not correct the flight route in time.
Ou was responsible for training personnel at the Air Operations Center, but he did not properly supervise the mission and did not follow standard procedures that required the flight route to be double-checked, which ultimately led to the tragedy, the report said.
The findings showed that the crash was “clearly the result of human error” on the part of the five officers, Control Yuan member Bau Tzong-ho (???) said at the time of the report’s publication.
The Control Yuan report was later forwarded to the Judicial Yuan’s Public Functionary Disciplinary Sanction Commission, which was responsible for deciding on the punishments to be handed down.
The commission on July 14 of the same year handed out its punishments by demoting Shih, Lai and Lu.
Chuang and Ou were not disciplined, and it is not clear if the five are still serving in the Air Force.
Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel