Netizens yesterday expressed gratitude to pilots of the ill-fated TransAsia Airways Flight GE235, saying that a study of the plane’s flight history suggested that the pilots tried to fly along the river to avoid crashing in residential areas.
While what caused the plane to crash into the Keelung River (基隆河) was still being investigated by authorities, many netizens on Professional Technology Temple (PTT) — the nation’s largest academic online bulletin board — commended what they said was “skillful maneuvering” by pilot Liao Chien-tsung (廖建宗) and copilots Liu Tzu-chung (劉自忠) and Hung Ping-chung (洪炳衷).
According to a screenshot taken from Flightradar24.com, a live flight-tracking Web site, and posted by a netizen going by the username JimmyMcNulty, the plane — despite swerving sharply immediately after it took off from Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport) at 10:52am — was brought close to the course of the river.
Source: Professional Technology Temple
After another sharp swerve, the pilots, apparently aware of an imminent crash, once again directed the plane over the river, where it crashed, JimmyMcNulty said.
The Web site’s record of the flight indicated that the aircraft’s altitude plummeted from 381m at 10:53am to 91m in less than one minute, just seconds before the documentation ended.
Netizens on PTT interpreted the initial swerve as the aircraft deviating from its course and lauded the pilots’ handling of the crisis.
“You can tell from the flight’s course that the pilots tried to avoid hitting residential areas by staying close to the waterway,” a netizen named eddieyu said in a comment.
“The results would have been more unimaginable if the plane had fallen in the city or crashed into the commercial building nearby,” another with the username snow730 said.
Three Taiwanese airlines have prohibited passengers from packing Bluetooth earbuds and their charger cases in checked luggage. EVA Air and Uni Air said that Bluetooth earbuds and charger cases are categorized as portable electronic devices, which should be switched off if they are placed in checked luggage based on international aviation safety regulations. They must not be in standby or sleep mode. However, as charging would continue when earbuds are placed in the charger cases, which would contravene international aviation regulations, their cases must be carried as hand luggage, they said. Tigerair Taiwan said that earbud charger cases are equipped
Foreign travelers entering Taiwan on a short layover via Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport are receiving NT$600 gift vouchers from yesterday, the Tourism Administration said, adding that it hopes the incentive would boost tourism consumption at the airport. The program, which allows travelers holding non-Taiwan passports who enter the country during a layover of up to 24 hours to claim a voucher, aims to promote attractions at the airport, the agency said in a statement on Friday. To participate, travelers must sign up on the campaign Web site, the agency said. They can then present their passport and boarding pass for their connecting international
UNILATERAL MOVES: Officials have raised concerns that Beijing could try to exert economic control over Kinmen in a key development plan next year The Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) yesterday said that China has so far failed to provide any information about a new airport expected to open next year that is less than 10km from a Taiwanese airport, raising flight safety concerns. Xiamen Xiangan International Airport is only about 3km at its closest point from the islands in Kinmen County — the scene of on-off fighting during the Cold War — and construction work can be seen and heard clearly from the Taiwan side. In a written statement sent to Reuters, the CAA said that airports close to each other need detailed advanced
The age requirement for commercial pilots and airline transport pilots is to be lowered by two years, to 18 and 21 years respectively, to expand the pool of pilots in accordance with international standards, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications announced today. The changes are part of amendments to articles 93, 119 and 121 of the Regulations Governing Licenses and Ratings for Airmen (航空人員檢定給證管理規則). The amendments take into account age requirements for aviation personnel certification in the Convention on International Civil Aviation and EU’s aviation safety regulations, as well as the practical needs of managing aviation personnel licensing, the ministry said. The ministry
RSS