With last Saturday's China Airlines crash still clear in their minds, legislators yesterday mulled a wide range of responses, from beefing up protections of consumer rights to the replacement of old helicopters.
PFP legislators Lee Hung-chun (
According to the legislators, consumers should have the right to this information before boarding a plane and the right to reject planes that are unfit for flying.
This information, the lawmakers argue, should include the conditions, date of manufacture, maintenance record and total flying time of the aircraft as well as the flying experience of its pilots.
Under the proposed amendments, airlines failing to make the information public would face punishments such as having their planes grounded, having their air-worthy certificates revoked and being fined up to NT$3 million.
In the case of a severe offense, the Civil Aeronautics Administration could order an airline to suspend business partially or completely and even cancel its business license, according to the proposal.
In another initiative, a group of KMT legislators, led by Chiang Yi-wen (
According to the KMT lawmakers, the 30-year-old helicopters were acquired by the administration from the army and are not designed for rescue missions.
They criticized the government for treating human life carelessly by allowing the aircraft to continue this type of service.
Meanwhile, DPP legislators Charles Chiang (江昭儀) and Lee Chen-nan (李鎮楠) said that the lack of flight safety awareness is a widespread problem in Taiwan, where a total of 16 major air accidents have occurred over the past three years.
With an air accident taking place on average every 2.2 months, the China Airlines crash is only the tip of the iceberg, Chiang and Lee said.
Pointing the finger at the Aviation Safety Council, they said the high accident rate indicates that the council has done only a "perfunctory" job and that council's managing director, Yong Kay (戎凱), should step down to take responsibility for the situation.
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