A sonic boom caused by an Air Force F-16V fighter jet during training not only gave some civilians a fright in Chiayi County on Christmas Day but also shattered the windows of some of their homes, which the military has promised to have fixed.

At around 10 a.m. on Dec. 25, a thunderous sonic boom from the jet broke through the sky, shaking houses in Cuxi and Longte villages in Shuishang Township, which is situated next to an Air Force base.

Reacting as if it was an earthquake, many village residents ran out of their homes, only to see an F-16V fly by overhead at low altitude with two white trails emanating from the aircraft.

On Wednesday, Cuxi Village chief Huang Pao-chen (???) told CNA that more than 10 households in his village had reported damage to their home glass windows caused by the fighter’s sonic boom.

After reporting the damage to the military, it promised to take full responsibility by having the windows fixed, Huang said.

Meanwhile, officials at the Chiayi Air Force Base told CNA that the damage sustained by the village residents had been evaluated, and the military will have their damaged doors and windows, and any other damage repaired.

They added that the sonic boom incident occurred during regular training being undertaken by F-16V (Viper) fighter jets.

A Cuxi Village resident, identified by his surname Chang (?), told CNA that it was not the first sonic boom to have happened in the area.

However, in the past, he and his neighbors had only been startled when they happened, but this time the sonic boom had damaged their homes, he complained.

Suspecting that these sonic booms were caused by jets flying at a low altitude, Chang said he hopes the military will review and improve its training practices so that civilians living close to its air bases will not always need to be on tenterhooks.

The Air Force base in Chiayi is home to Taiwan’s first F-16V combat wing, which was officially commissioned in mid-November this year.

Taiwan is having its 141 F-16A/B fighter jets upgraded to F-16V jets by the United States security and aerospace company, Lockheed Martin, and Taiwan’s Aerospace Industrial Development Corp. at a cost of NT$110 billion (US$3.99 billion).

In addition to the retrofit program that is still ongoing, Taiwan has also purchased 66 new F-16Vs from the U.S., with delivery expected to start in 2023.

Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel