The engine of a helicopter that crashed last month and killed film director Chi Po-lin (齊柏林) and two others on board has been sent to the US to help shed light on the cause of the accident.
Chi was on board the Bell-206B helicopter belonging to Emerald Pacific Airlines to shoot some aerial footage for the sequel to his 2013 documentary Beyond Beauty: Taiwan from Above (看見台灣) when it crashed in a mountainous area in Hualien County on June 10.
The fuselage of the helicopter broke in two, with wreckage scattered over a wide area.
The engine, which was manufactured by Rolls-Royce in the US, was removed from the wreckage and sent to the US for further analysis, the Aviation Safety Council said, adding that it would take at least two or three months for the results to come out.
Precisely determining the cause of the accident could be difficult.
The helicopter, made in Canada, was consumed by fire after the crash, limiting the amount of wreckage left behind, and it was not equipped with either a flight data or cockpit voice recorder.
The council said it would screen the limited wreckage that was collected to figure out what happened.
“We will not miss any details,” the council said.
Emerald Pacific Airlines has said the fire that broke out after the crash was particularly perplexing, because aviation fuel is different from regular fuel and has a high burning point, making it difficult to ignite.
The helicopter’s manufacturer, the US National Transportation Safety Board and the Transportation Safety Board of Canada have all sent officials to take part in the crash investigation.
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