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Crash report gets support of US expert

Former chairman of the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), Jim Hall, yesterday called for respect for the Taiwanese investigation report of the October 2000 crash of Singapore Airlines flight SQ006.

Hall made his comments at a press conference organized by the Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA, 民航局) yesterday to respond to the Singapore Ministry of Transport's statement that the Taiwanese investigation report was incomplete and biased.

Singapore authorities issued the statement and released their own investigation report immediately after the Taiwan Aviation Safety Council (ASC) announced its final results of the accident's investigation on Friday.

The ASC report has attributed the chief probable cause of the accident to pilot negligence and bad weather.

In response to the accusations from the Singaporean authorities, Hall said that it is not unusual to have different opinions of an accident because the accident itself is the result of a chain of different events that happened at the same time.

However, Hall stressed that the findings of the ASC report have to be respected because "Taiwan had followed the international standard in establishing an independent authority for conducting aviation safety investigation independently in case of this particular accident."

Hall also said that the essence of the report contained a number of safety recommendations.

"The important thing is to learn what is necessary to prevent an event like this from happening again, not to assign blame for it," Hall said.

During the conference, the CAA also made clarifications to the Singaporean version of the investigation report that might be "misleading to the general public."

Refuting Singapore's accusation that Taiwan barred its investors from taking part in the investigation, the CAA reiterated that Taiwan has followed international regulations that recognized that participation in the investigation would be subject to the procedure of the nation in which the investigation is being conducted.

According to the CAA, the Singapore investigation team, as well as other parties, was involved in on-scene investigation, factual verification and technical review meetings. The preliminary draft and the second draft of the investigation report were sent to all parties for comment.

The CAA also debunked the Singaporean statement that repairs at CKS airport following the accident proved airport deficiencies were the probable cause of the accident.

"The repair of airport facilities or the adjustment of aviation regulations are part of on-going improvements dedicated to aviation safety. They are totally irrelevant to the accident," said Shiung Kuang-jung (熊光榮), a CAA official.

Director-general of the CAA, Billy Chang (張國政), said that just like other international airports, the CAA was continuously working on enhancing the facilities and infrastructure of CKS airport to enhance aviation safety.

"Nevertheless, while airport infrastructure and aviation technologies can always be improved ... pilots should always do their utmost effort to ensure the safety of the aircraft by conducting appropriate and standard operation procedures," Chang said.
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