Another Asian Air Disaster
"There was some sound next to me. It did not feel right shortly after takeoff. The engine did not feel right."
"I saw others were drowning. If I did not move quickly enough to help them, soon they would be dead."
Huang Jin-sun, 72-year-old survivor of TransAsia Airways Flight ATR 72-600
"This kind of air safety incident not only wrecks countless happy families but also affects trust in our tourism climate among tourists from outside Taiwan."
"We must undergo this bitter experience and make all-out improvements."
Taiwan President Ma Ying-Jeou
 |
A Taiwanese flight
carrying 58 people banked sharply onto its side, clipped a highway
bridge and careened into a shallow river shortly after taking off from
Taipei. At least fifteen people have been rescued with injuries, but
many were killed in the dramatic accident. Dramatic video clips
apparently taken from cars were posted online and aired by
broadcasters, showing the ATR 72 propjet as it pivoted onto its side
while zooming toward a bridge over the river
Picture: AP |
Now, there's an understatement. Improvements might begin with heeding the concerns of pilots who report troubling incidents of uncertain engine performance. The very pilot that flew the ill-fated ATR 72-600, in fact, wrote in his official log that he suspected something to be quite awry with one of the engines of the plane he was later to fly again with such disastrous results. His complaint was noted, but no maintenance of any substance was undertaken to determine what might have been wrong with the engine.
It was, in fact, a fairly new plane, but one that Pratt & Whitney last April serviced by replacing one of its engines, because of a problem with the original engine. In later examining the data contained on the retrieved black boxes, Taiwanese authorities conclude that pilot error might have led to the disaster. True, one of the plane's engines had malfunctioned, and one of the pilots declared "Mayday, mayday, engine flameout" to the control tower.
But flight authorities of the Taiwan Civil Aeronautical Administration in reviewing the evidence of the black boxes have theorized that when the first engine stalled, the pilots decided it might be wise to 'slow down' the ascent of the second engine, and that they in fact, shut that second engine down altogether, leaving the plane with no thrust whatever, leading to its calamitous fall from the sky.
Eleven people were missing, 32 declared dead, and fifteen were saved, when the TransAsia Airways turbojet with 58 aboard crashed on Wednesday. Flight 235's final moments were captured on video images from car dashboard cameras showing the left engine's propeller unmoving as the plane turned sharply, wings vertical and hitting a highway bridge as it then fell into the Keelung River.
In the space of a year, Asian airlines have made international headlines for spectacular crashes and mysterious disappearances. It is of a certainty that their reputation must suffer as a result. What, exactly is it about those Asian airlines which have proliferated in the last decade as air travel became more affordable for greater numbers of middle-class travellers than ever before, that is causing these dreadful anomalies in air traffic safety?
Labels: Disaster, Taiwan, TransAsia Airways
posted by Pieface @ Saturday, February 07, 2015
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