A helicopter owned by Emerald Pacific Airlines (凌天航空) yesterday crashed while cleaning insulators on a Taiwan Power Co (Taipower, 台電) high-voltage electricity tower in New Taipei City’s Taishan District (泰山), killing two people on board.
The victims were identified as pilot Chen Hsiu-ming (陳秀明) and insulator cleaning technician Yu Hui-hsien (余惠賢). The Civil Aeronautics Administration said that Chen had accumulated 4,787 flight hours and held a valid certificate to operate helicopters.
Chen and Yu were sent to Taipei Hospital in the Sinjhuang District (新莊) and Linkou Chang Gung Memorial Hospital in Taoyuan respectively and were pronounced dead on arrival.
Photo: Huang Hsin-po, Taipei Times
The administration said that the Bell 206B helicopter was one of two aircraft assigned to clean high-voltage electricity tower insulators.
The helicopter departed from New Taipei City’s Yingge District (鶯歌) at 7am and crashed at about 11am.
The administration said that it was informed of the accident at 11:23am by the National Rescue Command Center, adding that it then established an emergency response team and dispatched representatives to the site, along with aviation accident investigators from the Aviation Safety Council.
The airline has five helicopters of the same model, including the one destroyed in the accident. Emerald Pacific has temporarily suspended high-voltage power line insulator cleaning operations because of the accident.
Taipower yesterday said in a statement that the accident might have been caused by the helicopter coming into contact with high-voltage power lines.
The power company said that it was sorry for what had occurred, adding that it had sent representatives to meet with the families of the victims after the accident and promised to assist them in handling funeral arrangements and other relevant matters.
Taipower said it would cooperate with the council to quickly determine the cause of the accident and prevent similar accidents from occurring.
Insulators on power substations have to be cleaned regularly, because dust and salt buildup affects the transmission of electricity, Taipower said, adding that while most insulator cleaning work is done by hand, it requires Emerald Pacific’s services to clean the upper part of towers.
The helicopter was manufactured on March 31, 2001, and had been in operation for nearly 14 years and eight months.
Apart from weekly inspections, all helicopters nationwide are required to undergo annual airworthiness inspections.
The crashed helicopter was scheduled to undergo the annual inspection next month, the administration said.
Taipower said that it recruited Emerald Pacific in 1998 to clean insulators on top of its power stations, with the accident being the first fatal on-the-job incident in 17 years.
NO HUMAN ERROR: After the incident, the Coast Guard Administration said it would obtain uncrewed aerial vehicles and vessels to boost its detection capacity Authorities would improve border control to prevent unlawful entry into Taiwan’s waters and safeguard national security, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday after a Chinese man reached the nation’s coast on an inflatable boat, saying he “defected to freedom.” The man was found on a rubber boat when he was about to set foot on Taiwan at the estuary of Houkeng River (後坑溪) near Taiping Borough (太平) in New Taipei City’s Linkou District (林口), authorities said. The Coast Guard Administration’s (CGA) northern branch said it received a report at 6:30am yesterday morning from the New Taipei City Fire Department about a
IN BEIJING’S FAVOR: A China Coast Guard spokesperson said that the Chinese maritime police would continue to carry out law enforcement activities in waters it claims The Philippines withdrew its coast guard vessel from a South China Sea shoal that has recently been at the center of tensions with Beijing. BRP Teresa Magbanua “was compelled to return to port” from Sabina Shoal (Xianbin Shoal, 仙濱暗沙) due to bad weather, depleted supplies and the need to evacuate personnel requiring medical care, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) spokesman Jay Tarriela said yesterday in a post on X. The Philippine vessel “will be in tiptop shape to resume her mission” after it has been resupplied and repaired, Philippine Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, who heads the nation’s maritime council, said
REGIONAL STABILITY: Taipei thanked the Biden administration for authorizing its 16th sale of military goods and services to uphold Taiwan’s defense and safety The US Department of State has approved the sale of US$228 million of military goods and services to Taiwan, the US Department of Defense said on Monday. The state department “made a determination approving a possible Foreign Military Sale” to the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the US for “return, repair and reshipment of spare parts and related equipment,” the defense department’s Defense Security Cooperation Agency said in a news release. Taiwan had requested the purchase of items and services which include the “return, repair and reshipment of classified and unclassified spare parts for aircraft and related equipment; US Government
More than 500 people on Saturday marched in New York in support of Taiwan’s entry to the UN, significantly more people than previous years. The march, coinciding with the ongoing 79th session of the UN General Assembly, comes close on the heels of growing international discourse regarding the meaning of UN Resolution 2758. Resolution 2758, adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1971, recognizes the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as the “only lawful representative of China.” It resulted in the Republic of China (ROC) losing its seat at the UN to the PRC. Taiwan has since been excluded from