The Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA) and the nation’s airline companies are to be held accountable for the deterioration of aviation safety records, according to a report by the Aviation Safety Council (ASC).
The report was unveiled at yesterday’s meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee, during which ASC Chairperson Hwung Hweng-hwung (黃煌煇) briefed lawmakers on the council’s progress in its investigation into the causes of aviation incidents and aviation safety research.
According to the report, the average hull loss — an accident that damages an aircraft beyond economic repair — occurrence rate for commercial planes decreased from 3.18 times per million departures 10 years ago to 0.58 times per million departures this year.
Although the 10-year moving hull loss occurrence rate for turboprop airplanes was zero between 2004 and 2013, it rose to 3.09 times per million departures because of the TransAsia Airways Flight 222 crash in Penghu in July 2014 and the TransAsia Airways Flight 235 crash in Taipei last year.
The rate is higher than the global average, the report showed.
The council has suggested several measures to improve the nation’s aviation safety record.
Aside from improving airport facilities, the council suggested simplified flight data recorders be installed in some older aircraft not already equipped with such devices.
The council also said that there were eight incidents in the past five years involving aircraft overrunning the runway. To address the problem, the nation’s airline companies need to train pilots regarding procedures when an aircraft needs to circle, it said.
The CAA should have a safety-management system in place, the council said.
When questioned by the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lin Chun-hsien (林俊憲) on how the CAA has been implementing the changes recommended by the ASC, Hwung said that the agency is not mandated to enforce ASC’s suggestions to improve aviation safety, except special projects overseen by the Executive Yuan.
CAA Director-General Lin Tyh-ming (林志明) said that it had addressed some of the urgent safety issues facing the nation’s airlines, adding that issues need to be completed in phases.
DPP legislators Cheng Pao-ching (鄭寶清) and Yeh Yi-jin (葉宜津) said that people should not just think of the ASC as an agency investigating the causes of air crashes.
They said that human error and technical problems are the two main factors involved in airplane crashes in Taiwan, with percentages higher than the global average.
The ASC should prevent incidents and stipulate aviation safety policies, they said.
DPP Legislator Lee Kun-tse (李昆澤) pointed to the shortage of flight safety inspectors in the CAA.
He said that the number of aircraft owned by domestic flight carriers has increased by 47 percent over the past six years.
Domestic flights and domestic flight passengers have increased by 30 percent each, but the CAA only has 57 flight safety inspectors, Lee added.
Lee said that not many pilots or airlines are willing to voluntarily file reports with the ASC’s confidential aviation safety report system, adding that they were afraid that the reports would destroy careers or hurt the airline’s public image.
The council should offer more incentives for more pilots and airlines to do so, he added.
People First Party (PFP) Legislator Lee Hung-chun (李鴻鈞) said he is concerned that a China Airlines industrial dispute could compromise aviation safety, adding that the CAA should intervene on safety grounds.
Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) was sentenced to six months in prison, commutable to a fine, by the New Taipei District Court today for contravening the Personal Data Protection Act (個人資料保護法) in a case linked to an alleged draft-dodging scheme. Wang allegedly paid NT$3.6 million (US$114,380) to an illegal group to help him evade mandatory military service through falsified medical documents, prosecutors said. He transferred the funds to Chen Chih-ming (陳志明), the alleged mastermind of a draft-evasion ring, although he lost contact with him as he was already in detention on fraud charges, they said. Chen is accused of helping a
SECURITY: Starlink owner Elon Musk has taken pro-Beijing positions, and allowing pro-China companies to control Taiwan’s critical infrastructure is risky, a legislator said Starlink was reluctant to offer services in Taiwan because of the nation’s extremely high penetration rates in 4G and 5G services, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said yesterday. The ministry made the comments at a meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee, which reviewed amendments to Article 36 of the Telecommunications Management Act (電信管理法). Article 36 bans foreigners from holding more than 49 percent of shares in public telecommunications networks, while shares foreigners directly and indirectly hold are also capped at 60 percent of the total, unless specified otherwise by law. The amendments, sponsored by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Ko
The eastern extension of the Taipei MRT Red Line could begin operations as early as late June, the Taipei Department of Rapid Transit Systems said yesterday. Taipei Rapid Transit Corp said it is considering offering one month of free rides on the new section to mark its opening. Construction progress on the 1.4km extension, which is to run from the current terminal Xiangshan Station to a new eastern terminal, Guangci/Fengtian Temple Station, was 90.6 percent complete by the end of last month, the department said in a report to the Taipei City Council's Transportation Committee. While construction began in October 2016 with an
NON-RED SUPPLY: Boosting the nation’s drone industry is becoming increasingly urgent as China’s UAV dominance could become an issue in a crisis, an analyst said Taiwan’s drone exports to Europe grew 41.7-fold from 2024 to last year, with demand from Ukraine’s fight against Russian aggression the most likely driver of growth, a study showed. The Institute for Democracy, Society and Emerging Technology (DSET) in a statement on Wednesday said it found that many of Taiwan’s uncrewed aerial vehicle (UAV) sales were from Poland and the Czech Republic. These countries likely transferred the drones to Ukraine to aid it in its fight against the Russian invasion that started in 2022, it said. Despite the gains, Taiwan is not the dominant drone exporter to these markets, ranking second and fourth
RSS