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.
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