Taiwan tells airlines to review safety after pilots fail key test
Print Edition
THE Taiwan government yesterday ordered all airlines to review their safety protocols after nearly half of the pilots trained to fly TransAsia’s ATR twin-engined aircraft were suspended following last week’s fatal crash in Taipei.
Taiwan’s aviation regulator said 10 of TransAsia’s 49 ATR pilots had failed oral proficiency tests on handling the aircraft during engine failure. A further 19 did not take the test, due to sickness or because they were not in Taiwan, the Civil Aviation Authority said.
The 29 pilots who failed or did not take the test have been suspended, the agency said.
“The result is not acceptable for us,” TransAsia Chief Executive Peter Chen told a news conference. “We will definitely strengthen their training.”
Authorities ordered the tests after a TransAsia ATR 72-600 crashed in Taipei killing at least 42 of the 58 people on board.
Flight GE235 lurched between buildings, clipped an overpass with one of its wings and crashed upside down into a river shortly after taking off on February 4.
Initial data indicate the plane lost power in one engine after takeoff from Taipei’s Songshan airport. The power was then cut in the other engine.
Officials in Taiwan and industry analysts have said evidence presented so far raises questions over whether the pilots might have accidentally cut the wrong engine.
“The lunar Chinese New Year holiday is coming ... We’ll ask every local airline to check their flight safety,” Chen Jian-yu, the transportation and communications chief, said after the TransAsia test results were made public.
The pilot and co-pilot of the almost-new turboprop ATR 72-600 were among those killed.
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