The main fuselage from TransAsia Airways Flight 235 is hoisted away in Taipei, Taiwan
The crashed ATR-72 Trans-
Asia Airways plane had one engine changed at the Macau International Airport before the new aircraft flew into Taiwan. The Macau Civil Aviation Authority clarified yesterday that the engine replacement was not carried out by a Macau-registered maintenance organization, but was instead overseen by the airline’s own staff, sent from Taiwan.
“During the new aircraft’s delivery trip to Taiwan, Trans-
Asia Airways applied to the Civil Aviation Authority for landing at the Macau International Airport on April 19 [2014], due to engine technical reasons,” confirmed the Authority.
“During its stay in Macau, the plane’s engine replacement was conducted by a team of maintenance staff that was sent from Taiwan by TransAsia Airways to Macau,” it added. “After the completion of repairs, the airplane departed from Macau on April 21.”
According to TransAsia’s vice president, Wang Cheng-chung, the original engine was returned to the manufacturer, Pratt & Whitney Canada, after a glitch was found.
A team from ATR, a French- Italian company based in France, has been sent to Taiwan to help in the investigation. The company has sold close to 1,500 aircraft, and has over 180 operators in more than 90 countries. Every 15 seconds, an ATR turboprop takes off somewhere around the world, according to ATR’s website. BY
Dear Editor,
Sorry, but I think that maintenance work done in Macau on a plane 9+ months ago has no relevance to the plane crashing in Taiwan a few days ago. You are making a story out of nothing.
Richard
Dear Richard,
You may be right. But nobody, much less MDT, made any connection between the maintenance work and the tragic accident. We’ve just laid out the fact. Moreover, the initiative to disclose the news about of the operation carried in Taipa’s airport by the ill-fated TransAsia plane was from the local Civil Aviation Authority – that for some reason found the need to disclose the fact publicly.
The Editor