Highway landing replaces Air Force drill

Instead, the fighter jets and helicopters, including F-16s, M-2000s, IDFs and E2-K models, completed low-approach training maneuvers at the Jiadong (佳冬) Highway Strip in Pingtung County as part of an annual exercise.

The drill kicked off around 9:30 a.m. yesterday over the highway with each of the Air Force pilots exercising highly demanding skills at height of 100 feet.

One after another, the aircraft flew in low approach while hundreds of audience and bystanders, enduring heavy rains, witnessed the rare show with cameras and applause.

This is the first time such a drill was held at the highway section ever since its renovation in 1986 to serve as an emergency landing and takeoff area during wartime.

One of the highlights of yesterday's show was the first appearance of an E-2K airborne early-warning aircraft, commissioned in 2009, in the low-flying training exercise.

The E-2K aircraft is capable of conducting patrol missions for five hours at a time and detecting ship or aircraft movement over a large area, significantly extending the advance warning time of any attack.

The jets' low-approach drill was part of a joint combat training exercise that also involved the Army's OH-58D scout helicopter, a CH-47 heavy-lift helicopter and two AH-1W attack helicopters. The drill also included fueling and loading of military aircraft.

Standing Water Prevents Landing: Air Force

The Air Force's Political Warfare Department Director Pan Kung-hsiao (潘恭孝) said due to the rain that has lasted over the past few days and caused significant standing water on the strip, the military decided to make adjustment to the original emergency landing exercise. “It could be dangerous for aircraft to land with the standing water,” Pan said.

The drill is part of the first cross-military live-fire exercise in more than two decades in Taiwan, featuring a mock confrontation between Army and Marine troops.

The drill, held mainly between the Army's 298th Motorized Infantry Brigade and the 99th Marine Brigade and involving about 3,400 members of all branches of Taiwan's armed forces, is scheduled to conclude today, the MND said.

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