The Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA) has grounded three flight crew after their plane took off in the wrong direction early this year in Alaska, officials said yesterday.
The two pilots and a co-pilot of China Airlines will be grounded for up to eight months according to a CAA decision made during a recent flight safety meeting.
The carrier also hinted that the three could also be fired for the January mishap, when the landing gear of a China Airlines jetliner carrying 250 passengers and crew hit a pile of snow at the end of a taxiway at the Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport.
The jet departed safely and landed without incident later in Taiwan.
"The three can appeal if they feel unsatisfied with our ruling," CAA director Billy Chang (
"The purpose [of the decision] is to ensure such events will not recur."
According to the CAA ruling, the three pilots would be required to take new flight training programs and pass tests before being given licenses to fly again.
The air carrier hinted that it may slap a harsh penalty on the three crew even as it said a final decision has yet to be made.
"We are adopting more stringent flight standards than before. For flight safety considerations, they may be asked to retire ahead of schedule. But then again, we have yet made a final decision on this," airline spokesman Roger Han (
The event rekindled memories of a Singapore Airlines Boeing 747-400 bound for Los Angeles which slammed into construction equipment while taking off from a closed runway at Chiang Kai-shek airport in 1999. Eighty-three people were killed in the incident.
Singapore Airlines sacked the two pilots of the ill-fated plane after local authorities blamed pilot error for the tragedy, with manslaughter charges against the pair conditionally suspended for three years.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by
RSS