The Aviation Safety Council yesterday recommended that Far Eastern Air Transport (FAT) reinforce flight crew training on standardized operating procedures (SOP) when pilots need to go around or land in a tailwind.
The recommendation stems from an incident in which one of the airline’s planes overshot the runway when trying to land at Magong Airport in Penghu on May 16 last year.
The MacDonnell Douglas-82 model aircraft, No. B-28037, carried 172 passengers and crewmembers.
The council’s investigation found that when the pilots tried to land, a strong tailwind forced them to abort their first try and go around to try to land again.
However, the pilots failed to stop the aircraft before the end of the runway on their second attempt, the report said.
The council said the flight crew had not heeded information about the wind when they attempted the second landing, making them unable to continue monitoring and evaluating the impact of the wind on landing.
“This shows that the flight crew did not know how to land under a tailwind,” the report said.
The council also said that the plane’s flight data recorder showed the speed of the tailwind was 21 nautical miles per hour (38.9kph) when the autopilot system was turned off.
The tailwind speed was 14 nautical miles per hour when the wheels of the main landing gear touched the ground.
The pilots did not follow the instructions in the flight crew manual, which require aircraft to land at 10 nautical miles per hour.
The council also found that the FAT flight crew did not use the proper terminology in communications with the control tower personnel.
This meant that the control tower believed the aircraft was landing using VHF omnidirectional radio range, a short-range radio navigation system, when it was operating on an instrument landing system, a system providing precision guidance to aircraft approaching and landing on a runway.
The report said that FAT must reinforce its flight crew training, particularly on standardized operating procedures for transfer of aircraft control between the pilot and the copilot and using the right terminology to communicate with control tower personnel.
The airline must also examine its recruitment of flight personnel, which must be conducted in accordance with company regulations.
The council also asked the Civil Aeronautics Administration to supervise the airline in addressing the listed issues.
It also said airport control tower personnel must consider safety issues if they decide to change the way an aircraft lands.
Tower personnel must consider the time needed by the pilots to make those changes and choose the right runway for the pilots to land on, the council said.
The Ministry of Education (MOE) is to launch a new program to encourage international students to stay in Taiwan and explore job opportunities here after graduation, Deputy Minister of Education Yeh Ping-cheng (葉丙成) said on Friday. The government would provide full scholarships for international students to further their studies for two years in Taiwan, so those who want to pursue a master’s degree can consider applying for the program, he said. The fields included are science, technology, engineering, mathematics, semiconductors and finance, Yeh added. The program, called “Intense 2+2,” would also assist international students who completed the two years of further studies in
Former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) departed for Europe on Friday night, with planned stops in Lithuania and Denmark. Tsai arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport on Friday night, but did not speak to reporters before departing. Tsai wrote on social media later that the purpose of the trip was to reaffirm the commitment of Taiwanese to working with democratic allies to promote regional security and stability, upholding freedom and democracy, and defending their homeland. She also expressed hope that through joint efforts, Taiwan and Europe would continue to be partners building up economic resilience on the global stage. The former president was to first
Taiwan will now have four additional national holidays after the Legislative Yuan passed an amendment today, which also made Labor Day a national holiday for all sectors. The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) used their majority in the Legislative Yuan to pass the amendment to the Act on Implementing Memorial Days and State Holidays (紀念日及節日實施辦法), which the parties jointly proposed, in its third and final reading today. The legislature passed the bill to amend the act, which is currently enforced administratively, raising it to the legal level. The new legislation recognizes Confucius’ birthday on Sept. 28, the
MORE NEEDED: Recall drives against legislators in Miaoli’s two districts and Hsinchu’s second district were still a few thousand signatures short of the second-stage threshold Campaigners aiming to recall Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators yesterday said they expect success in 30 out of 35 districts where drives have passed the second-stage threshold, which would mark a record number of recall votes held at once. Hsinchu County recall campaigners yesterday announced that they reached the second-stage threshold in the recall effort against Legislator Lin Szu-ming (林思銘). A total of 26,414 signatures have been gathered over the past two months, surpassing the 10 percent threshold of 23,287 in Hsinchu County’s second electoral district, chief campaigner Hsieh Ting-ting (謝婷婷) said. “Our target is to gather an additional 1,500 signatures to reach
RSS