Pilot error is to blame for TransAsia Airways Flight GE235 crashing into the Keelung River in Taipei last year, according to the Aviation Safety Council’s (ASC) final report released yesterday.
Investigators said a series of mistakes that were made due to ineffective communication between the two pilots and their failure to follow standard flight procedures were the main causes of the crash that killed 43 people.
The aircraft crashed on Feb. 4 last year, less than three minutes after taking off from Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport), which is about 5.4km west of the crash site.
Photo: EPA / TVBS Taiwan
The 10-month-old ATR 72-600 aircraft was en route from Taipei to Kinmen with 53 passengers and five crew members on board. There were 15 survivors.
The pilots should have aborted takeoff after noticing that a power-control system was not armed, investigators said in the report.
The investigators have previously said that the aircraft’s automatic takeoff power control system (ATPCS) had not been armed when the turboprop began its departure roll.
Photo: Huang Yao-cheng, Taipei Times
Four seconds after takeoff, the co-pilot pointed out an error in the ATPCS.
However, the captain replied: “OK, continue takeoff.”
The system provides automatic support — including uptrim and auto-feathering — in the event of an engine failure during takeoff.
In addition, the pilots inadvertently reduced power from the plane’s healthy left-hand engine, instead of the right-hand engine that was exhibiting problems, according to the report.
The mistakes occurred due to poor communication between the two pilots about the engine problems, investigators said, citing recordings of the captain on the cockpit voice recorder.
The errors led to both of the airplane’s engines losing power, the report said.
The voice recording indicated that eight seconds before the crash, one of the pilots exclaimed: “Oh, no, wrong throttle [was pulled back],” the report said.
Investigators also found that during flight training sessions, the captain had difficulty dealing with abnormal or emergency situations such as engine failure, but TransAsia did not address the problem, according to the report.
Officials said that the captain had failed a flight simulator test in May 2014, in part because he had insufficient knowledge of how to deal with an engine flameout on takeoff.
The ASC said TransAsia training supervisors had told ATR 72-600 pilots that they should abort takeoff if the ATPCS was not armed during the roll, a procedure that had been “emphasized” during pilot training.
However, the procedure for aborting is not clearly described in any manual or guidelines for the airline’s flight crew, the report said.
Investigators said cracked welds in the aircraft engine might also have been a factor that affected the plane’s functions.
The crash was the airline’s second in seven months — both involving French-Italian made ATR 72-type aircraft.
On July 23, 2014, TransAsia Flight GE222, an ATR 72-500 aircraft, crashed in a village near Magong Airport in Penghu.
The issue of TransAsia pilots not following standard operating procedures, which caused the ATR72-500 crash, has apparently not improved, ASC Executive Director Thomas Wang (王興中) said.
The ASC suggested that the airline review its pilot training programs, internal monitoring and supervisory measures to improve flight safety.
TransAsia Airways chairman Vincent Lin (林明昇) yesterday said that he respects the results of the investigation and that the airline would continue to improve flight safety by inviting the Flight Safety Foundation, the Airbus Flight Safety Department and the Bureau Veritas Group to provide guidance.
Conflict with Taiwan could leave China with “massive economic disruption, catastrophic military losses, significant social unrest, and devastating sanctions,” a US think tank said in a report released on Monday. The German Marshall Fund released a report titled If China Attacks Taiwan: The Consequences for China of “Minor Conflict” and “Major War” Scenarios. The report details the “massive” economic, military, social and international costs to China in the event of a minor conflict or major war with Taiwan, estimating that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) could sustain losses of more than half of its active-duty ground forces, including 100,000 troops. Understanding Chinese
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday said it is closely monitoring developments in Venezuela, and would continue to cooperate with democratic allies and work together for regional and global security, stability, and prosperity. The remarks came after the US on Saturday launched a series of airstrikes in Venezuela and kidnapped Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, who was later flown to New York along with his wife. The pair face US charges related to drug trafficking and alleged cooperation with gangs designated as terrorist organizations. Maduro has denied the allegations. The ministry said that it is closely monitoring the political and economic situation
UNRELENTING: China attempted cyberattacks on Taiwan’s critical infrastructure 2.63 million times per day last year, up from 1.23 million in 2023, the NSB said China’s cyberarmy has long engaged in cyberattacks against Taiwan’s critical infrastructure, employing diverse and evolving tactics, the National Security Bureau (NSB) said yesterday, adding that cyberattacks on critical energy infrastructure last year increased 10-fold compared with the previous year. The NSB yesterday released a report titled Analysis on China’s Cyber Threats to Taiwan’s Critical Infrastructure in 2025, outlining the number of cyberattacks, major tactics and hacker groups. Taiwan’s national intelligence community identified a large number of cybersecurity incidents last year, the bureau said in a statement. China’s cyberarmy last year launched an average of 2.63 million intrusion attempts per day targeting Taiwan’s critical
AGING: As of last month, people aged 65 or older accounted for 20.06 percent of the total population and the number of couples who got married fell by 18,685 from 2024 Taiwan has surpassed South Korea as the country least willing to have children, with an annual crude birthrate of 4.62 per 1,000 people, Ministry of the Interior data showed yesterday. The nation was previously ranked the second-lowest country in terms of total fertility rate, or the average number of children a woman has in her lifetime. However, South Korea’s fertility rate began to recover from 2023, with total fertility rate rising from 0.72 and estimated to reach 0.82 to 0.85 by last year, and the crude birthrate projected at 6.7 per 1,000 people. Japan’s crude birthrate was projected to fall below six,
RSS