TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwan’s Air Force continued a search on Wednesday for a missing F-16 pilot after a nighttime training crash off the east coast, citing a possible computer malfunction and concerns that the pilot may not have ejected.

The search is underway for Air Force Captain Hsin Po-yi (辛柏毅), who was flying a single-seat F-16V fighter jet on a night training mission when the aircraft went down on Tuesday. Rescuers are racing to capitalize on the critical 72-hour rescue window, per CNA.

The crash site is estimated to be at sea east of Fengbin Township in Hualien County. The Air Force said 11 naval vessels have been dispatched to the area, along with 13 aerial sorties and 119 personnel participating in the search and rescue operation.

The Air Force said preliminary findings point to a malfunction of the aircraft’s modular mission computer, which may have caused the pilot to lose access to key flight information and become spatially disoriented. While cockpit audio recorded Hsin voicing “eject” three times, there has been no confirmation from the system that an ejection was completed.

“There are several levels of modular mission computer malfunctions,” Colonel Chou Ming-ching (周明慶) said at a news conference in Hualien County. “In this case, the aircraft’s flight path was no longer displayed, so he was unable to obtain information on his attitude.”

According to a transcript released by the Air Force, at 7:27:30 p.m., Hsin first reported “two lost,” referring to the loss of key flight data. Within a minute, he reported that altitude was continuously decreasing and stated, “expected to eject, eject, eject.” At 7:28:30 p.m., the aircraft disappeared from radar at an altitude of about 518 meters.

The Air Force said the lead aircraft in the training mission circled the area in an attempt to locate the crash site, but cloud cover made visual observation of the sea surface impossible at the time.

Investigators said weather conditions on Tuesday met flight training standards, and the aircraft and engine had not experienced any major issues since their last scheduled maintenance.

Taiwan purchased 150 F-16 fighter jets from the US in 1992. The first aircraft arrived in 1997 and has been in service for 29 years. Including the latest incident involving the F-16V with tail number 6700, a total of 11 F-16s have been lost in accidents.

Chou said the four main causes of F-16 accidents are spatial disorientation, midair collisions, loss of consciousness due to high G-forces, and controlled flight into terrain. He said spatial disorientation and CFIT are the most common causes during nighttime operations. Chou described Hsin as having an excellent flying record. 

The Air Force said it immediately notified Hsin’s family. His wife was accompanied by her mother and sister, while his parents traveled from Penghu to Hualien on Wednesday, accompanied by military personnel who briefed them on the search efforts.

Following the crash, the Air Force ordered all F-16V aircraft to suspend training and exercise missions and to undergo enhanced maintenance checks. Pilots are receiving additional instruction and simulator training focused on handling spatial disorientation, correcting abnormal maneuvers, and nighttime instrument flight operations.

The Air Force is also urging the US to speed up the installation of automatic ground collision avoidance systems on Taiwan’s F-16V jets, with a target of completing the work by the end of the year.

Auto-GCAS uses data such as aircraft speed, direction, and terrain to assess the risk of ground or sea collisions. If the pilot fails to respond to an alert, the system can automatically adjust the aircraft’s attitude to prevent a crash.

Based on US military experience, Auto-GCAS has saved the lives of hundreds of pilots, making investment in collision-avoidance technology highly cost-effective, the Air Force said.

However, integrating the system into the remaining 139 F-16V Block 20 aircraft upgraded under the Peace Phoenix Rising project requires extensive rewiring, structural airframe modifications, and integration with existing flight control systems.