The Black Hawk lost contact with Songshan Air Base at 8:07 on the morning of 2 January 2020, thirteen minutes after it lifted off. It had gone down on a mountainside in Wulai District, New Taipei. Aboard was General Shen Yi-ming, Taiwan’s Chief of the General Staff, and he did not survive.
Eight servicemembers were killed, Shen among them, including two major generals. Five people were hurt. The helicopter belonged to the Air Rescue Group of the Republic of China Air Force and was flying a VIP transport mission. Shen was heading to the Dong’aoling Radar Station in Su’ao, Yilan county, to visit troops. With him were seven other officers and a senior enlisted adviser from the General Staff Headquarters, a military correspondent and three crew.
At a news conference the same day, Air Force commander Gen. Hsiung Hou-chi said the government had formed a task force to find the cause. Investigators recovered the flight recorders on 3 January and sent them to the Taiwan Transportation Safety Board. Proprietary hardware inside went to Sikorsky Aircraft.
Nine days before the election
The crash came nine days ahead of Taiwan’s general election. President Tsai Ing-wen’s campaign office and the Democratic Progressive Party halted their presidential and legislative campaigning for three days. Han Kuo-yu’s campaign said he would cancel events for two days.
Condolences came from abroad. U.S. Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Mark Milley sent a statement on behalf of the American military, and the American Institute in Taiwan said it stood ready to help. On 3 January the U.S. flag at its Taipei office flew at half-staff. The Japan-Taiwan Exchange Association said it was “shocked and grief-stricken” and wished the five survivors a speedy recovery. Several other foreign missions in Taipei, and some foreign officials, posted messages of their own.
Accountability
On 21 July 2020 the Control Yuan announced it had impeached Jen I-wei and Chou Shih-kai, two officers then posted to the Air Force Weather Wing’s No. 8 Base. In January 2022 the Judicial Yuan’s Disciplinary Court barred Jen from public-sector work for two years. Chou received no penalty because the evidence against him was insufficient.
