As the Civil Aeronautics Administ-ration (CAA) released the investigation results of four recent domestic aviation accidents yesterday, the director said that the accidents should serve as warnings for local airlines to strengthen their ability to ensure aviation safety in emergencies.
In a press conference organized by the CAA yesterday, Director Billy Chang (張國政) released the findings of the CAA's investigation of the in-flight engine shutdown during Uni Airways's flight B-15219 on July 24 and flight B-15223 on July 29, the engine damage during TransAsia Airways' flight B22810 during take-off on Sept. 5 and the loss of a tire during Uni Airway's flight B-17923 on Sept. 10.
There were no casualties resulting from the four accidents.
"We would like to use the accidents to remind the pilots and aviation engineers to further understand the proper measures they should take before or during the flight so that the safety of the passengers and the aircraft can be further ensured even during emergency situations," said Chang.
Uni Airways' passenger flight B-15219 experienced an in-flight shutdown of its No. 1 engine en route from Kinmen to Taichung on July 24. Five days later, another aircraft from the airline had the same thing happen to its No. 2 engine when flying from Kaohsiung to Makung.
According to the CAA, both engines were produced by Pratt & Whitney Canada and had just been repaired in the company's Singapore branch before carrying out their missions.
However, after the engines were sent to the P&WC head office in Canada for investigation following the accident, investigators said that the in-flight shutdown occurred because of damage to the upper bearings of the tower shafts.
"The damage in the upper bearings had failed to firmly fix the bevel gears", said Chang, explaining that the damage occurred because P&WC in Singapore failed to move away the roller in the engines' upper bearings when reinstalling the bevel gear.
"Our preliminary investigation showed that the accident was cause by the negligence of the P&WC branch in Singapore; and further repair and inspection of the same type of engines should be conducted in the head office in Canada," said Chang.
The CAA said that the over-heating on the engine of TransAsia Airways' Makung-bound B22810 flight was caused by damage to the engines' power turbine. Investigators found that four of the blades in the power turbine were broken and 16 of them were damaged which caused the aircraft's No. 2 engine to overheat.
"The pilots had shut down the overheating engine and conducted proper emergency procedures in the cockpit so that the aircraft could return to the [Taipei Sung-Shan domestic] airport properly, with the power of a single engine," said Chang, adding that the Cabinet's Aviation Safety Council had opened an investigation into the accident.
As for the investigation in to the loss of a tire on Uni Airways' B17923 airliner last week, CAA explained that the tire fell off because the lock pinhole on the tire's bearing was worn out.
According to Chang, inspections on all tires on Uni Airways' aircraft was conducted after the accident took place. In addition, Boeing -- the manufacturer of the airliner -- will also investigate.
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