Taiwan's Air Force Boosts Safety... With A Little Help From Singapore
TAIPEI, Taiwan, 21 February 2001 -- The first zero-crash record, achieved by Taiwan's air force last year, is the result of a risk-management mechanism, which the service has copied from its Singaporean and United States counterparts. The record looks especially impressive, given that, over the past five decades there have been 522 aircraft crashes, an average of 10 each year, according to statistics provided by the air force. Lt-General Liu Kuei-li, air force deputy commander-in-chief, said: 'The F-104 had some design problems, which earned it the nickname 'the flying coffin'. A lot of our best pilots were killed in F-104 crashes.' Though happy with last year's record, he said the air force would not be complacent about the achievement, the Taipei Times reported. 'Our risk-management mechanism needs to be strengthened and expanded further,' he said. 'The mechanism was introduced into Taiwan 1 1/2 years ago, when service chief General Chen Chao-ming visited Singapore for an exchange of opinions with the air force there on the issue,' he added. 'At that time, the Singapore Air Force had already maintained a zero-crash record for five consecutive years. 'The Singapore Air Force was established under our assistance and we are not ashamed of learning from our former pupils,' Lt-Gen Liu said. He made the remarks during a recent meeting with the media, at which the air force gave a briefing on the ongoing implementation of the risk-management mechanism in the service. The mechanism was enforced formally last March, said Colonel Chin Ping-ho, director of the flight-safety department with the air force's general headquarters. The mechanism features a quantitative control of all sorts of risk factors which might be associated with flying. It requires combat pilots to do a self-evaluation of risk factors before each flight mission. 'We had our own risk-management mechanism in the past,' said Col Chin. 'But it is different from the new model we are now building in that it was less precise. The new model is basically a quantitative management system.' Source: The Straits Times Interactive, Singapore
|
Login | Sign Up
Home
