A pilot lost his arm in a helicopter crash at the Kinmen Shang-I Airport early yesterday morning. The BK-177 model chopper, owned by Sunrise Airlines Co (中興航空), had been assigned by the Kinmen County Health Bureau to carry a patient in critical condition to Taipei.
It arrived at the Taipei Songshan Airport at 8:40pm on Friday night and departed again at around 10:30pm. The helicopter crashed at 12:02am, less than 50m from the runway in Kinmen.
The 49-year-old pilot, Hsu Tzi-wen (�?�), suffered the severest injuries. Two-thirds of Hsu’s right arm was torn off in the crash. The missing arm was not retrieved until hours later, making it impossible for doctors to re-attach it.
PHOTO: CNA
Co-pilot Chen Shin-fang (陳信芳), 43, had lacerations on his scalp and face. Chou Chang-sheng (周昌生), 35, a paramedic, helped rescue Hsu and Chen from the wrecked helicopter.
The Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA) said in a statement that Hsu’s total flight time exceeded 6,400 hours, and more than 3,400 hours were spent flying BK-177 aircraft.
Officials were forced to shut down the airport after the accident as they waited for representatives from the Aviation Safety Council (ASC) to collect evidence before they could remove the damaged aircraft.
Hundreds of passengers were stranded at the airport for hours.
A helicopter carrying two ASC representatives was sent to the scene, but was delayed by low visibility. Airport officials in Kinmen eventually photographed the scene themselves and faxed the pictures to the ASC to secure approval to remove the damaged aircraft.
The Kinmen Airport did not reopen until 1pm yesterday. The ASC representatives arrived in Kinmen later in the afternoon.
Kinmen Airport Office director Hong Nien-chi (洪念慈) said it was negotiating with Mandarin Airlines (華信航空), Uni Air (立榮航空) and TransAsia Airways to add additional flights to their schedule to facilitate the transportation of stranded passengers.
Local media reports said the helicopter crew left Taipei despite being told that visibility in Kinmen was only 500m. They also said that contracts between Sunrise and the Kinmen County Government required that the helicopter return to Kinmen after dropping off the patients in the hospitals in Taiwan proper.
The minimum safe altitude for helicopters is about 1,500m.
Thomas Wang (王興中), head of ASC’s investigative team, refused to say if the accident was caused by poor visibility.
“It’s still too early to say,” he said, adding that investigators were still gathering evidence.
FAST TRACK? Chinese spouses must renounce their Chinese citizenship and pledge allegiance to Taiwan to gain citizenship, some demonstrators said Opponents and supporters of a bill that would allow Chinese spouses to obtain Taiwanese citizenship in four years instead of six staged protests near the Legislative Yuan in Taipei yesterday morning. Those who oppose the bill proposed by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) demanded that Chinese spouses be granted citizenship only after renouncing their Chinese citizenship, passing a citizenship test and pledging allegiance to Taiwan. The demonstrators, who were protesting at a side entrance to the Legislative Yuan on Jinan Road, were mostly members of the Taiwan Association of University Professors and other organizations advocating Taiwanese independence. Supporters of the bill, led
SILENT MAJORITY: Only 1 percent of Chinese rejected all options but war to annex Taiwan, while one-third viewed war as unacceptable, a university study showed Many Chinese are more concerned with developments inside their country than with seeking unification with Taiwan, al-Jazeera reported on Friday. Although China claims Taiwan as its own territory and has vowed to annex it, by force if necessary, 23-year-old Chinese Shao Hongtian was quoted by al-Jazeera as saying that “hostilities are not the way to bring China and Taiwan together.” “I want unification to happen peacefully,” Shao said. Al-Jazeera said it changed Shao’s name to respect his wish for anonymity. If peaceful unification is not possible, Shao said he would prefer “things to remain as they are,” adding that many of his friends feel
Taiwan has “absolute air superiority” over China in its own airspace, Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) told a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee on Monday, amid concern over whether Taipei could defend itself against a military incursion by Beijing. Po made the remarks in response to a question from Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Chiu Chih-wei (邱志偉) on whether Taiwan would have partial or complete air superiority if Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) warplanes were to enter Taiwan’s airspace. Po, a retired pilot, said that the Taiwanese military has “absolute air superiority” over PLA
A shipment of basil pesto imported by Costco Wholesale Taiwan from the US in the middle of last month was intercepted at the border after testing positive for excessive pesticide residue, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said yesterday. Samples taken from a shipment of the Kirkland Signature brand of basil pesto imported by Costco contained 0.1 milligrams per kilogram of ethylene oxide, exceeding the non-detectable limit. Ethylene oxide is a carcinogenic substance that can be used as a pesticide. The 674kg shipment of basil pesto would either be destroyed or returned to its country of origin, as is the procedure for all