Two TransAsia Airways pilots are facing a one to three-month suspension for runway incursion at Kinmen Airport early this month, the Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA) said yesterday.
According to the CAA, on Sept. 4, TransAsia Airways Flight No. 2355 was instructed to wait on the taxiway because a Uni Air flight was coming in to land. Although the copilot repeated the air traffic controller’s instructions correctly, the aircraft continued moving toward the runway.
The agency said that the plane’s cockpit recorder showed that the pilot asked the copilot if they had been given permission to enter the runway, but he did not verify the instructions with air traffic controllers.
The copilot replied that they had received permission.
Control tower personnel recognized the incursion in time and asked the Uni Air flight to delay its landing.
The TransAsia flight was carrying three passengers and four flight attendants, while the Uni Air flight had 82 passengers on board, the agency said.
The CAA said that it would mete out its punishment next month in accordance with the Civil Aviation Act (民用航空法), with the two TransAsia pilots likely being suspended from flying for one to three months and being fined between NT$60,000 and NT$300,000.
The CAA’s flight standards division director Clark Lin (林俊良) said that the incident involved a TransAsia ATR 72-500 aircraft. On July 23 last year, an ATR 72-500 crashed on Penghu Island, killing 48 people, and on Feb. 4 this year, an ATR 72-600 had an engine failure and crashed into the Keelung River, killing 43 people.
Lin said that apart from plans to improve the airline’s aviation safety record, the CAA would implement a special plan to reinforce the operational safety of ATR aircraft.
TransAsia said it was considering firing the two pilots over the incident, while reiterating its commitment to improving flight safety.
The company has three ATR 72-500 planes, which have been in operation for more than 10 years on average, it said. The three airplanes are scheduled to discontinue service next month, but the company said it might consider moving the schedule earlier.
The company is adding four new ATR 72-600 aircraft next year.
The two aviation accidents have severely affected TransAsia’s business. CAA statistics showed that TransAsia’s occupancy rates in July was a little more than 50 percent for international flights and about 50 percent for domestic flights, and in some cases dropped to as low as 20 percent.
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