At 19.18 local time on 4 March(11.18Z) a 5 Tactical Fighter Wing F-16A(unconfirmed report quotes tail number 6706) disappeared from rader screens 28 miniutes after take-off from Hualien AB(RCYU).
At this time the pilot Major Ting Shih-pao,34 is listed as missing.
A search was initiated with 2 S-70C and a C-130H plus 2 warships.
This is the fifth Taiwanese F-16 loss(2 F-16A and 2 F-16B),and the first loss of this type of airplane in the RoCAF since 1999.