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CAA staff indicted over deadly 2002 plane crash

Five Civil Aeronautics Adminis- tration (CAA) meteorologists were indicted yesterday over their failure to issue a bad weather warning before a tragic plane crash in December 2002.

The five CAA staff members were charged with dereliction of duty and involuntary manslaughter as their failure to issue significant meteorology (SIGMET) warnings allegedly led to the crash of a Macau-bound Trans- Asia Airways cargo plane on Dec. 21, 2002 in which two pilots were killed.

SIGMET warnings are weather advisories that contain information concerning the safety of aircraft. Typical SIGMETs contain information on severe turbulence and icing, or visibility restrictions such as dust, ash or sandstorms. This information is usually broadcast by air traffic control facilities and each SIGMET forecast is valid for up to four hours.

Investigators found that the crash was caused by ice accumulating around the plane's major components, resulting in system failure, the indictment said.

According to the findings of the investigation, Hong Kong and Japanese aviation authorities issued SIGMET warnings to aircraft in the Taiwan Strait both before and after the tragedy.

But the CAA failed to issue similar alerts until after the ATR-72 TransAsia Airways cargo aircraft plowed into the Taiwan Strait in bad weather, the indictment said.

The negligence of the CAA staff members meant that the pilots were unaware of the need to take timely steps to ensure their safety, the indictment said.

The twin-prop ATR-72 aircraft took off from Chiang Kai-shek International Airport at 1:05am on Dec. 21, 2002, but disappeared from radar screens at 1:56am that day.

Liu Chao-ming (劉昭民), a chief meteorologist, and weather analysts Wang Tai-yuan (王太元), Yu Shou-liang (于守良), Tsai Chia-cheng (蔡嘉成) and Hsu Ching-hui (徐敬輝) were indicted.
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