The National Airborne Service Corps of the Ministry of the Interior activated its new hangar in Kaohsiung on the 18th. President Tsai Ing-wen, accompanied by the Minister of the Interior Hsu Kuo-Yung, came today to express her appreciation and thank these air heroes who always take risks to guard the country. The activation of the new hangar and the completion of the acceptance of the last batch of Black Hawk helicopter a few days ago, which will be joining the rescue missions after the training, and the official reorganization of the first team of the third brigade and the planning of organization’s manpower expansion of the Airborne Service Corps are to allow all hard-working Airborne Service Corps men and women to have a better working environment and improve overall flight safety.
President Tsai stated that the Airborne Service Corps staff protect the safety of the people throughout the country. Starting from July of this year (2020), the government has specially increased the bonus for recruiting and retaining talent for Airborne Service Corps pilots, increasing the hourly fees for aircrews and co-crew members, and accelerating the enrichment of resident facilities and manpower to provide more complete support to the Airborne Service Corps. The current staffing of the Airborne Service Corps cannot meet demands of the increasingly diversified and onerous tasks and the demands of command and control. The Ministry of the Interior will review the organization and staffing, hoping to achieve the tasks more effectively and ensure flight safety.
This year, due to the open policy of mountain forests, the number of climbers has doubled. The Airborne Service Corps has rescued 225 people since January. Most of the tasks performed by co-duty units including the Coast Guard Administration and the National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue Team were carried out and led by the Airborne Service Corps.
For the helicopter acceptance process, thanks to the assistance of the Ministry of National Defense and the units of the Armed Forces and the support of logistical maintenance. For the construction of the new hangar, thanks to the Kaohsiung City Government, Kaohsiung International Airport and the engineering and civilian teams of the Construction and Planning Agency for the assistance. The project also won the 20th Public Construction Commission Golden Quality Award.
The Airborne Service Corps stated that the acceptance of the last batch of 6 heavy Black Hawk helicopters was completed on October 8. Since the Airborne Service Corps was ordered to receive the Black Hawk fleet, it has gone through 6 years and overcome many difficulties. By 2020, all the helicopters were received. This batch of 6 heavy Black Hawk helicopters are equipped with 6 search and rescue equipment, which will undertake rescue missions in the southwestern waters of our country and greatly increase the maritime search and rescue capability at night. The President also hopes that the Corps will complete the relevant preparations and training step by step, and join the rescue mission after the completion of the training to ensure the safety of the lives and property of the people in the southern region.