Pilot error and airline violations were to blame for the July 2014 crash of TransAsia Airways Flight 222 in Penghu that killed 48 people, the Aviation Safety Council (ASC) said yesterday as it released the findings of its investigation into the crash.
The pilots’ repeated violations of standard operating procedures were indicative of an operational culture “in which high-risk practices were routine and considered normal,” the council said in its report.
The ATR 72-500 carrying 54 passengers and four crewmembers on a flight from Kaohsiung went down near Magong Airport on July 23, 2014. The 10 survivors all suffered injuries in the crash.
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
Pilot Lee Yi-liang (李義良), who was 60 at the time, had 15 years of experience in flying civilian aircraft, while his copilot was 39-year-old Chiang Kuan-hsing (江冠興). Both died in the crash.
The council said it found nine problems pertaining to flight operations, including the pilots’ failure to comply with the published procedures regarding the minimum descent altitude (MDA).
Lee took the aircraft below the MDA of 330 feet (100.6m) without obtaining the required visual references, and as the plane continued to descend, the pilots did not detect and correct that hazardous path in time, suggesting that they were not aware of the aircraft’s position, it said.
The weather was also a probable cause of the tragedy, as Penghu was being affected by the outer rim of Typhoon Matmo, and heavy rain and abrupt changes in wind speed and direction contributed to the poor control of the plane, the council said.
The captain was “likely overconfident in his flying skills,” which might have led to his decision to descend below 330ft without an appreciation of the safety risks, while a fatigue analysis indicated that his performance had probably been affected by fatigue, it said.
The report also mentioned a number of risks that might have contributed to the accident, including the tower’s failure to inform the pilot that the runway visual range values had decreased from 1,600m to 800m and then to about 500m.
While that may have influenced the pilot’s decision on whether to continue the approach, that piece of information was not vital enough to cause the tragedy, council Executive Director Thomas Wang (王興中) said.
If the pilot had followed standard operating procedures, he might have had a chance to turn around when he reached the MDA, Wang said.
The minimum visibility standard for landing at Magong Airport is 1,600m.
The report said the airline needed to take responsibility for its safety management.
“TransAsia Airways had not developed a safety management system implementation plan,” the council said. “This led to a disorganized, nonsystematic, incomplete and ineffective implementation, which made it difficult to establish robust and resilient safety management capabilities and functions.”
The council made 10 recommendations, including the need for TransAsia to review its safety protocols, pilot training program and hiring practices to reduce “imminent risks.”
It also said the airline needed to hire more staff, including flight training and safety management personnel as well as pilots.
The report casts a spotlight once again on pilot training and decision-making at TransAsia, which lost an ATR 72-600 in another fatal crash just less than seven months after the Magong tragedy, when the plane crashed soon after taking off from Taipei, killing 43 passengers and crew.
TransAsia yesterday said it respected the results of the investigation and pledged to strive for better safety controls.
“Flight safety comes first,” TransAsia chairman Lin Ming-sheng (林明昇) said, adding that the airline has implemented measures such as introducing foreign experts to overhaul its flight safety operation.
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
WEATHER Typhoon forming: CWA A tropical depression is expected to form into a typhoon as early as today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday, adding that the storm’s path remains uncertain. Before the weekend, it would move toward the Philippines, the agency said. Some time around Monday next week, it might reach a turning point, either veering north toward waters east of Taiwan or continuing westward across the Philippines, the CWA said. Meanwhile, the eye of Typhoon Kalmaegi was 1,310km south-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, as of 2am yesterday, it said. The storm is forecast to move through central
RSS