The Ministry of National Defense confirmed on Jan. 2 that a UH-60M Black Hawk helicopter carrying 13 people, including Chief of the General Staff Shen Yi-ming and flight personnel, made a forced landing in New Taipei City's mountainous Wulai District for unknown reasons. The helicopter departed at 7:50 a.m. bound for Lunar New Year activities in Yilan County's Dongao. The ministry said five people have been found with signs of life, and eight are confirmed dead, including Shen.


The chief pilot is Lieutenant Colonel Yeh Chien-i, a 2002 graduate of the Air Force Academy. The co-pilot is Captain Liu Chien-fu, a 2012 graduate of the Air Force Academy. The crew chief is Master Sergeant Hsu Hung-pin. We were carrying out a Lunar New Year visiting the troops itinerary, so in addition to the three flight crew personnel, there were also 10 Ministry of National Defense personnel on board going to boost troop morale. The helicopter took off at 7:54 a.m., as you can all see here. The last communication was at 8:07 a.m. The last blip was recorded at a heading of 328.7 degrees, 17 nautical miles from Chungcheng Naval Base. Contact was lost here. The weather they reported was clouds at 3,000 to 4,000 feet, with excellent visibility.

Shen and the others on board were scheduled to visit with a radar squadron stationed in Dongao. The helicopter departed from Songshan Airbase and was bound for Dongao via Chungcheng Naval Base. It made a forced landing for unknown reasons. Before communications were lost, the flight crew reported normal weather conditions. A task force has already been established to determine the cause of the accident.



空軍司令上將 熊厚基表示：「正駕駛是葉建儀中校，是我們空軍官校的91年班，副駕駛是劉鎮富上尉，官校101班，那機工長 是許鴻彬士官長，那我們今天是執行總長春節慰問的行程，所以說除了這三個機組員外，上面有10個成員是我們國防部的這個慰問人員，我們在預計7點54分，記者可以看到，7點54從這邊起飛，在8點7分最後一次構連，後光點距離中正港在328.7度17浬的這個地方消失，他們當時報的天氣都是在雲高三千呎到四千呎以下，能見度是非常良好的。」

參謀總長沈一鳴等人，原定衛冕北部地區部隊，由松山基地出發，途經中正基地前往東澳嶺營區，慰勉空軍第一雷達分隊，不料卻因不明事故迫降。該架直升機雷達光點消失前，機組人員正常回報天候狀況，並未表示異狀。至於是環境因素還是機械因素導致迫降，已成立專案小組調查。