Search and rescue divers continue to look for missing passengers from a commercial airplane crash in the water in Taipei
TransAsia Airways representatives met yesterday with relatives of the victims of last week’s plane crash in Taiwan to discuss compensation after it began distributing money to families of the deceased for funeral costs.
At the river crash site, divers tried to find the bodies of the three people still missing by using metal detectors to locate their watches or seat belts.
At least 40 people died after the propeller-jet crashed into the muddy Keelung River minutes after takeoff Wednesday from Taipei’s airport. Fifteen of the 58 people aboard the plane were rescued.
Preliminary investigations indicate the pilots of the TransAsia Airways ATR 72 shut off a running engine after its other engine went idle, a move that aviation experts said was an error.
A spokesman for France-based plane maker ATR said yesterday that their aircraft were equipped and designed to fly on a single engine. The spokesman spoke on condition of anonymity in line with company rules.
The bulk of the passengers were from the Chinese mainland.
A TransAsia spokeswoman, Fang Chia-wen, said a second meeting would be held Wednesday to discuss compensation matters further. She said the airline had already begun distributing 1.2 million Taiwan dollars (USD38,000) per victim to families for funeral expenses.
Premier Mao Chi-kuo told Taiwan’s private Formosa TV yesterday that the priority was to find the three missing people. Longer-term, he said the country needs to work on improving “our civil aviation in terms of its management and training.”
Huang Han-chung, a member of the underwater search team, also told the station that rescuers were using metal detectors, which had already been used to locate pieces of wreckage.
“Some bodies might have some metal on them, like necklaces, watches and coins, which will be detected,” said Wu Jun-hung, a Taipei city fire department official. “There are still four seats missing, so it’s possible that the victims are still fastened in their seats by seat belt, that they sunk together with the seats to the bottom of the bank.” Gladys Tsai, Taipei , AP
transasia pilots undergo proficiency tests following crash
The dozens of pilots who operate TransAsia Airways’ ATR propeller-jets began proficiency tests on Saturday, three days after one of the carrier’s ATRs crashed into a river, killing at least 40 people.
The airline said it had canceled 90 flights over the next three days to accommodate the requirement by Taiwan’s Civil Aeronautics Administration that all 71 of its ATR pilots be retested.
Preliminary investigations indicate the pilots of Wednesday’s doomed flight shut off a running engine after its other engine went idle.
“It’s a mistake,” said John M. Cox, a former US Airways pilot and now head of a safety-consulting company. “There are procedures that pilots go through — safeguards — when you’re going to shut down an engine, particularly close to the ground. Why that didn’t occur here, I don’t know.”
Local prosecutors have said they will look into the possibility of “professional error.”
Thomas Wang, head of Taiwan’s Aviation Safety Council, said Saturday that it was too early to reach conclusions about any pilot error.
Pratt & Whitney Canada, the plane’s engine maker, and the safety council have begun to examine both of the aircraft’s engines, a process that can take four months, Wang said.
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