The Malaysian pilot of Singapore Airlines flight SQ006 said yesterday that he saw something on the runway immediately before the plane crashed and exploded upon takeoff at Chang Kai-shek International Airport.
The airline's spokesman, Rick Clements, confirmed the pilot's statement saying: "He saw something there. It might have been a vehicle, it might have been a tire, I don't know."
PHOTO: CHEN CHENG-CHANG, TAIPEI TIMES
Taiwan aviation officials initially suspected that storm-force winds from Typhoon Xangsane could have contributed to the crash, but later said that conditions were within acceptable limits for takeoff.
PHOTO: CHEN CHENG-CHANG, TAIPEI TIMES
Local TV station TVBS said that the plane may have tried to take off from an adjacent runway under repair and hit equipment that was parked there.
The station showed footage of the closed runway littered with a hydraulic backhoe, which appeared to have been damaged, cement blocks and the wreckage of the plane.
Airline officials said that the pilot did not take the wrong runway.
"I understand there is no evidence of that so far," Clements said. "The runway that the aircraft was cleared to depart from was actually a well-lit runway, whereas the other runway was not lit, so an experienced pilot should not have made the mistake of using the wrong runway."
Aviation officials in Taiwan, however, are not ruling out human error. Chang Kuo-cheng (張國政), deputy director-general of the Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA, 民航局), said yesterday it was possible that the pilot was unfamiliar with the airport and may have taxied onto the wrong runway.
The Aviation Safety Council (ASC, 飛安委員會), which is responsible for investigating such accidents, said the aircraft had crashed near the site of construction on the runway.
The pilot, however, had flown to Taipei several times during October and was familiar with the airport, Clements said.
Preliminary investigations have not ruled out the possibility of poor weather as a factor in the crash.
Jim McKenna Czysc, from the US Aviation Safety Alliance, said that a sudden and violent change in wind direction, or "microburst" -- a form of windshear -- could have occurred during takeoff.
The aircraft's two flight data recorders have been recovered and the ASC has made a cursory examination but has yet to release their findings.
Further analysis of the recordings is to be conducted with information from the Boeing company and Singapore Airlines.
In Washington, the National Transportation Safety Board said it was sending a team of investigators to help Taiwan authorities investigate the disaster. The eight-member team was expected to arrive in Taiwan this evening.
Singapore Airlines, the city-state's flagship carrier, is one of the world's most profitable airlines and has one of the industry's best safety records. It has been flying for 28 years and had never lost a plane in a crash.
The plane that burst into flames Tuesday was bought new in January 1997, airline spokesman James Boyd said in Los Angeles.
He said there had been no problems with the aircraft, which underwent its last maintenance check on Sept. 16.
The pilot of the plane, Foong Chee Kong of Malaysia, had 11,235 hours of flying experience, according to airline officials.
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