Officials form the Aviation Safety Council traveled to the Nanhua airfield for ultralight aircraft in Kaoshu Township (高樹), Pingtung County, yesterday to investigate the circumstances surrounding a crash by a an ultralight that resulted in two deaths on Saturday.
An official said the airfield, the ultralight and the pilot all violated the law.
After half a day of investigation, council officials said further evaluation was required to determine whether mechanical failure or human error caused the crash.
PHOTO: CNA
Officials said that although the pilot, a man surnamed Hu (胡), had more than 20 years experience flying ultralight aircraft and worked as an instructor, he was not licensed to fly the aircraft.
The only pertinent license he was a three-year-old temporary license issued at an international air festival in Taoyuan County, officials said.
The aircraft was also unlicensed, as was the airfield, the officials said.
The officials said that although there are locations in Taiwan where ultralight aircraft can take off and land legally, not many people have licenses to fly them and very few of the aircraft themselves are licensed.
The main reason is that most hobbyists feel it is too difficult to obtain such licenses, the officials said.
The airfield is located on a river bed close to fruit orchards, pineapple and melon fields.
Because many accidents have occurred over the past seven or eight years, residents of Nanhua Village have said they were worried about getting injured, and township and village leaders had reached an agreement with pilots and paragliders that they not fly over the village.
A township representative said yesterday that it was fortunate there were no farmers working in the field at the time of Saturday’s crash.
The crash occurred in a pumpkin field full of large rocks. A farmer who witnessed the crash said he heard a loud noise from the engine and then saw the ultralight fall from a height roughly equivalent to a seven or eight-story building.
The farmer said that when he arrived at the site of the crash, Hu and his female passenger, a woman surnamed Wu (吳), had already stopped breathing.
POLAM KOPITIAM CASE: Of the two people still in hospital, one has undergone a liver transplant and is improving, while the other is being evaluated for a liver transplant A fourth person has died from bongkrek acid poisoning linked to the Polam Kopitiam (寶林茶室) restaurant in Taipei’s Far Eastern Sogo Xinyi A13 Department Store, the Ministry of Health and Welfare said yesterday, as two other people remain seriously ill in hospital. The first death was reported on March 24. The man had been 39 years old and had eaten at the restaurant on March 22. As more cases of suspected food poisoning involving people who had eaten at the restaurant were reported by hospitals on March 26, the ministry and the Taipei Department of Health launched an investigation. The Food and
A fourth person has died in a food poisoning outbreak linked to the Xinyi (信義) branch of Malaysian restaurant chain Polam Kopitiam (寶林茶室) in Taipei, Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang (王必勝) said on Monday. It was the second fatality in three days, after another was announced on Saturday. The 40-year-old woman experienced multiple organ failure in the early hours on Monday, and the family decided not to undergo emergency resuscitation, Wang said. She initially showed signs of improvement after seeking medical treatment for nausea, vomiting and diarrhea, but her condition worsened due to an infection, he said. Two others who
MEDICAL: The bills would also upgrade the status of the Ethical Guidelines Governing the Research of Human Embryos and Embryonic Stem Cell Research to law The Executive Yuan yesterday approved two bills to govern regenerative medicine that aim to boost development of the field. Taiwan would reach an important milestone in regenerative medicine development with passage of the regenerative medicine act and the regenerative medicine preparations ordinance, which would allow studies to proceed and treatments to be developed, Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang (王必勝) told reporters at a news conference after a Cabinet meeting. Regenerative treatments have been used for several conditions, including cancer — by regenerating blood cells — and restoring joint function in soft tissue, Wang said. The draft legislation requires regenerative treatments
Taiwanese should be mindful when visiting China, as Beijing in July is likely to tighten the implementation of policies on national security following the introduction of two regulations, a researcher said on Saturday. China on Friday unveiled the regulations governing the law enforcement and judicial activities of national security agencies. They would help crack down on “illegal” and “criminal” activities that Beijing considers to be endangering national security, according to reports by China’s state media. The definition of what constitutes a national security threat in China is vague, Taiwan Thinktank researcher Wu Se-chih (吳瑟致) said. The two procedural regulations are to provide Chinese