5 years 6 accidents 7 pilots died in the line of duty! The Taiwan military strives to "stay in camp" to improve the cockpit ratio of F-16V fighters

According to Taiwan media reports, there have been 6 warplane accidents in the Taiwan Air Force in the past five years, resulting in the unfortunate death of 7 pilots, because the Taiwan Air Force will purchase 66 new F-16V fighters from next year to 2026, whether it can smoothly recruit and retain flying officers has become the key to the continuation of combat strength. Taiwan military officials said that in recent years, the Air Force has recruited flying talents through the enrollment of the junior high school of the Zhongzheng Preparatory School, the promotion of the incentive to stay in the camp, and the consideration of the needs of army building, the F-16 fighter's flight officer assignment ratio is higher than in previous years, and there is still room for further improvement in the cockpit ratio of F-16 fighters in the future.

Because the cockpit ratio, the actual number of pilots, etc. are all alert data, the Taiwan military did not provide further, but Taiwan's "Legislative Yuan" budget center released a report in 2020 revealing that the cabin ratio of Taiwan's F-16 single-seat fighter is about 1.33, and the two-seat fighter is 2.5, in other words, a single-seat fighter can only be divided into 1.33 pilots on average. Taiwan's Air Force has said that the cabin ratio of Taiwan's fighters is "similar to that of the US military."

Since the Taiwan Air Force will receive 66 F-16V Block70 fighters from next year to 2026, if you add 140 F-16V Block 20 fighters that have been upgraded, Taiwan will have 206 F-16V fighters. Taiwan military officials said that in response to the installation of new fighters, the Air Force has increased the ratio of F-16 fighter pilots and increased the distribution of posts year by year. The Taiwan military restarted the enrollment of the junior high school of the Zhongzheng Preparatory School in 2018, coupled with sources such as the official school flight class, which can support the future needs, and the cockpit ratio also has room for further improvement.

Although the maximum monthly treatment for fighter lieutenant colonels and colonel pilots is about 220,000 to 260,000 yuan, there is still a distance compared with the monthly salary of civil aviation pilots. Military officials revealed that the current retention policy, including the renewal bonus, is very helpful for retaining front-line pilots; some people in the aviation industry have privately analyzed that in the past two years, due to the impact of the epidemic, the actual number of flight crew pilots on duty has decreased significantly, which may also be the potential reason for the high retention rate of flight officers.

Taiwan military officials also said that the training patterns of military aircraft pilots and civil aviation aircraft pilots are completely different; the latter is to ensure the safety of aircraft and crew members, and the former must challenge the limits in order to achieve combat tasks, because pilots do not add difficult flight training courses, and it is easy to be shot down in wartime.