The legislature’s Transportation Committee yesterday asked the Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA) to enhance its inspections of Far Eastern Air Transport (FAT) following a minor collision on Tuesday between two of its aircraft at Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport).
Nearly the entire fleet of the Taiwan-based airline has been in operation for more than 20 years, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lee Kun-tse (李昆澤) said, adding that the CAA needs to investigate whether the airline follows flight safety standards.
The collision occurred when an MD-80 being towed out of a maintenance hangar hit a parked plane. Thirteen domestic flights were delayed, affecting 1,000 passengers.
The collision caused damage to the horizontal stabilizer on the plane being towed, which could compromise the safety of its operations, independent Legislator Chao Cheng-yu (趙正宇) said.
He asked if the CAA would continue to allow the airline to use its MD-80 aircraft, considering that the US is to discontinue their use next year.
DPP Legislator Chen Ou-po (陳歐珀) asked when the CAA found out about the collision and if the airline had attempted to hide the collision from the agency.
The collision occurred at 6:47am and was reported to the agency at about 9am, CAA Director-General Lin Kuo-hsien (林國顯) said, adding that the airline had followed regulations that require such an incident to be reported within 24 hours.
Regarding the airline’s aging fleet, Lin said that the agency has since August restricted FAT’s flight hours to 1,350 hours per month.
The CAA is also to closely monitor if the airline has met the safety standards it proposed last month, Lin said, adding that failure to meet the standards would lead to suspension of its flights.
The airline plans to put two new ATR aircraft into operation next month, Lin said.
Meanwhile, the CAA is amending its regulations to require the retirement of aircraft that have been in operation for at least 26 years, Lin said.
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