The Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA) yesterday denied that the tower personnel at Magong Airport in Penghu County had failed to disclose important weather information that could have prevented the crash of TransAsia Airways Flight GE222 on July 23, adding that the cause of the accident is being investigated by the Aviation Safety Council (ASC).
The CAA was responding to a Chinese-language China Times article said the tower personnel did not inform the pilot of the crashed aircraft about a sudden change in visibility after they had secured the information, which could be the main cause of the fatal accident, which killed 48 people.
The council, which is in charge of investigating the cause of the accident, had said in August that it was scheduled to reveal the results of the investigation in October next year. Based on its preliminary findings from the plane’s cockpit voice recorder (CVR) and flight data recorder (FDR), the pilot had deactivated the autopilot system at 7:05pm and prepared for landing using manual control instead. The altitude at the time was recorded at 71m, and the aircraft was found to continue deviating from the set aviation course to the left.
However, aviation regulations state that the descent must start from an altitude of at least 110.6m if the aircraft is landing at a non-precision instruction runway, or the pilots must go around and try to land again.
The council found from the recorded information that the pilot had requested to go around twice, when the aircraft dropped to 21m and to 15m above the ground. Eventually, the plane crashed after hitting trees and houses.
CAA Deputy Director-General Lee Wan-lee (李萬里) yesterday said that the tower is equipped with an automatic terminal information service (ATIS), providing every pilot with updated weather forecasts from the CAA’s weather centers every 30 minutes. However, he said that the updates are given every 10 minutes if there are special weather conditions.
The CAA said the tower’s records on July 23 showed that the tower personnel informed the pilots about the latest weather forecast at 6:42pm.
At 6:45pm, the pilots requested to land at Runway 02 at the Magong Airport using the VHR omnidirectional range system. After the pilot reached the appropriate altitude and completed the procedures for landing at 7pm, the tower at 7:03pm granted the aircraft permission to land, after ensuring the runway was clear.
Although the tower personnel provided another weather update at 7:10pm, the planed crashed before 7:06pm, the records showed.
“It was really inappropriate that the reporter of the story interpreted the data from the cockpit voice recorder made public by the ASC herself and came to her own conclusion,” Lee said.
Lee said that although the tower personnel should provide the latest weather reports for pilot’s reference, the pilots have the right to decide if they want to land at the moment based on the aircraft’s particulars, as well as the pilots’ training. Lee added that the tower personnel are not meteorologists, and all the information from the weather center must be turned into audio files so that they can be broadcast to different flights through the ATIS.
A strong continental cold air mass is to bring pollutants to Taiwan from tomorrow, the Ministry of Environment said today, as it issued an “orange” air quality alert for most of the country. All of Taiwan except for Hualien and Taitung counties is to be under an “orange” air quality alert tomorrow, indicating air quality that is unhealthy for sensitive groups. In China, areas from Shandong to Shanghai have been enveloped in haze since Saturday, the ministry said in a news release. Yesterday, hourly concentrations of PM2.5 in these areas ranged from 65 to 160 micrograms per cubic meter (mg/m³), and pollutants were
Taiwan’s armed forces have established response protocols for a wide range of sudden contingencies, including the “Wan Chun Plan” to protect the head of state, the Ministry of Defense (MND) said today. After US President Donald Trump on Saturday launched a series of airstrikes in Venezuela and kidnapped Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, concerns have been raised as to whether China would launch a similar “decapitation strike” on Taiwan. The armed forces regularly coordinate with relevant agencies and practice drills to ensure preparedness for a wide range of scenarios, Vice Minister of National Defense Hsu Szu-chien (徐斯儉) told reporters before a
EVA Airways on Saturday said that it had suspended a pilot and opened an investigation after he allegedly lost his temper and punched the first officer several times as their plane was taxiing before takeoff at Los Angeles International Airport. According to a report published on Thursday by The Reporter, the incident occurred after the flight’s Malaysian first officer tried to warn the Taiwanese pilot, surnamed Wen (文), that he was taxiing faster than the speed limit of 30 knots (55.6kph). After alerting the pilot several times without response, the first officer manually applied the brakes in accordance with standard operating
NOT AN OPENING: Trump’s violation of international law does not affect China’s consideration in attacking Taiwan; Beijing lacks capability, not precedent, an official said Taiwanese officials see the US’ capture of the president of Venezuela as a powerful deterrent to Beijing’s aggression and a timely reminder of the US’ ability to defeat militaries equipped with Chinese-made weapons. The strikes that toppled Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro signaled to authoritarian leaders, including Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), US President Donald Trump’s willingness to use military might for international affairs core to US interests, one senior official in Taipei’s security circle said. That reassured Taiwan, the person said. Taipei has also dismissed the idea that Trump’s apparent violation of international law could embolden Beijing, said the official, who was not
RSS