The Ministry of Transportation and Communications yesterday attributed a Starlux Airlines flight’s hard landing at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport last week to the airline’s failure to be more cautious when dispatching flights while Typhoon Kong-rey lashed Taiwan.
The airline’s Flight JX-871 was scheduled to return to Taoyuan airport from Naha Airport in Japan’s Okinawa Prefecture on Thursday afternoon after the typhoon made landfall in Taiwan.
A video circulating on the Internet showed the aircraft touching down on a runway in Taoyuan, then bouncing before touching down a second time, causing the left wingtip to make contact with the ground before the aircraft became airborne again. The aircraft then positioned for another runway approach and successfully landed on the runway without further incident about 30 minutes later.
Photo: Screen grab from the Civil Aviation Administration’s Web site
Lawmakers at the legislature’s Transportation Committee yesterday questioned the ministry about the procedures and standards that airlines should follow when dispatching flights during typhoons or other natural disasters.
“We have asked airlines to adopt a more conservative approach when it comes to dispatching flights during inclement weather. They followed the approach in the past, but apparently did not do so this time. Now it seems that we need to revisit those standards they should use to dispatch flights, such as wind speed,” Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) Director-General Ho Shu-ping (何淑萍) told the committee.
Starlux has reported a few hard landing incidents this year, which shows the need for further education for its flight crew, Ho said.
The CAA will investigate the aircraft and the pilots, and would issue penalties if it is determined that it has contravened aviation regulations, she said.
Starlux defended its approach in dispatching flights, saying that every procedure it took that day was in accordance with aviation regulations.
“We closely monitored the weather to ensure that those flights that would be affected by the typhoon would be rearranged in ways that are in accordance with standards. However, a few flights still had trouble landing due to an unexpected instant strong airflow. The captains on those flights responded by following standard operating procedures,” it said in a statement.
Only seven flights were diverted to other international airports, while the rest landed safely at Taoyuan airport, it said.
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