A TransAsia Airways cargo aircraft with two pilots onboard crashed into the sea near Penghu early yesterday morning after taking off from Taipei en route to Macau.
Rescue teams were still searching for the two pilots, Pan Teh-chung (
Bad weather could be the cause of the air crash, said Billy Chang (
PHOTO: CHANG CHUNG-YI, TAIPEI TIMES
"The French-built ATR-72 plane took off from the CKS International Airport at 1:05am.
"At 1:52am the pilots told the control tower they would lower the plane's altitude from 5,486m to 4,876m," Chang said.
"The plane disappeared from radar screens at 1:56am. Taipei Rescue Coordination Center informed CAA of the accident at 2:38am," Chang said.
The location of the plane was 27km southwest of Penghu's Makung City when it was spotted on radar screens for the last time, Chang said.
"CAA formed an emergency response task force at 3:05am.
"At the same time, an air force C-130 aircraft took off to join the rescue effort in Penghu," Chang said.
At 3:56am, Minister of Transportation and Communications Lin Ling-san (
"Helicopters and more than 150 rescuers were also deployed to the scene," Chang said.
Meanwhile, President Chen Shui-bian (
Debris from the plane was first discovered at 8:05am.
"The operation manual of the plane was discovered at 8:51am," Chang said.
According to Kay Yong (戎凱), managing director of the Executive Yuan's Aviation Safety Council, the plane dropped 3,962m within 35 seconds before it plunged into the sea.
Yong said an airplane usually lowers its flight altitude by 182m to 243m per second.
"The descending speed of the ART-72 aircraft was three times faster than a normal plane," Yong said.
"One possible cause of the crash is aircraft icing. The temperature at an altitude of 5,486m was -9?C at that time," Yong said.
Yong said that a China Airlines flight flying near Penghu Islands received an emergency signal from the ATR-72 cargo plane at 2:07am.
According to Yong, a plane would send out a signal only if it were in grave trouble.
"We need further evidence to ascertain whether the plane was hit by an object," Yong said.
The pilots' anxious families arrived at Penghu at 10am to wait for the rescue results.
Sun Hung-hsiang (
But an airline official said aircraft icing could not be the cause of the accident, because the plane's de-icer was working normally.
According to Sun, the aircraft was carrying leather goods, electronic items and textiles.
According to the CAA, the crash was TransAsia Airways' second since its establishment in 1951.Also See Story:
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