Taiwan Grounds Mirage 2000 Fleet after Aircraft Goes Missing

The Taiwanese military has grounded its Mirage 2000 aircraft fleet on Wednesday after an aircraft disappeared from Radar screens after it took off.

The Mirage-2000 disappeared from radar screens just over a half-hour after taking off Tuesday evening from an air base in Hsinchu, south of the capital, Taipei, according to an air force statement on Wednesday.

The navy ships and more than a dozen aircraft have been dispatched to search the area but with no result as of midday, Xinhua News Agency reported Wednesday. It said the pilot, Ko Tse-yu, joined the air force more than a decade ago and had 227 hours of flight time in Mirages.

The air force said it received signals that may have come from the plane's emergency equipment, the Taipei Times reports, adding that Ho communicated with some other pilots while flying. The communications data has been sent to an investigation committee, but the air force hasn't disclosed the content of those communications, Sputnik reported Thursday.

Taiwan's fleet of 60 Mirage planes was also grounded in 2012 following the death of a pilot who was training on the jet in France.