Taipei - Taiwan Defence Minister Chen Chao-min on Wednesday ordered all warplanes grounded for three days for safety inspections after a second crash in as many days. "With painful mind, I apologise to all compatriots in Taiwan, and the ministry has ordered that all war planes, except for those on routine surveillance or search missions, be grounded for three days for safety inspections," Chen told parliament.
His comments came after opposition parliamentarians questioned him over the crash of a submarine-hunting helicopter during night training Tuesday, a day after a self-developed Indigenous Defence Fighter (IDF) jet crashed.
The navy S70-C helicopter with five officers on board crashed off the eastern county of Hualien, killing two and injuring two.
The fifth officer went missing, and a military search team was continuing to look for the service member.
On Monday, the IDF, made by Taiwan with US technology, went missing along with its two pilots during a training flight over the sea off the island of Penghu.
A search team found several pieces of wreckage Tuesday and recovered the flight recorder, commonly known as the black box, Wednesday morning, but there was no sign of the missing pilots.
