A Taiwan Air Force officer has died upon being sucked in the engine of a F-CK-1 fighter jet at Ching Chuan Kang Air Force Base in Taichung, Taiwan.
Taiwan’s Air Force Command Headquarters said in a press release that the tragic accident occurred on the morning of January 21, 2025.
According to local reports, a Ching-kuo Indigenous Defence Fighter (IDF – AIDC F-CK-1 Ching-kuo) had landed in the airbase, and a 41-year old female master sergeant, identified as Hu, conducted a final routine inspection of the aircraft just before the jet’s engines were switched off.
For “unknown reasons,” Hu was sucked in by the right side engine of the fighter jet, reports said.
Colleagues managed to rush Hu to a hospital, but she was later pronounced dead, at about 11:40 local time.
PTS Taiwan News has reported that Ching Chuan Kang Air Force Base suspended take offs for Indigenous Defence Fighter jets and is investigating the accident.
The AIDC F-CK-1 Ching-Kuo is commonly known as the Indigenous Defense Fighter (IDF).
It is a multirole combat aircraft named after Chiang Ching-kuo, the late President of the Republic of China. The aircraft made its first flight in 1989, before entering service with the Republic of China Air Force (Taiwan) in 1992.