Foreign media have lauded pilot Liao Chien-tsung (廖建宗) for his courageous endeavors in the final moments of TransAsia Airways Flight GE235, steering away from buildings to avoid further casualties, while comments from former pilots appear to confirm rumors that Liao told the company that there was a problem with the engines.
Flight GE235 bound for Kinmen crashed into the Keelung River on Wednesday morning about 5km out of Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport).
There were 53 passengers and 5 crew members on board.
Screen grab from Liao Chien-tsung’s Facebook account
At least 31 of the passengers have been confirmed dead and rescuers continue to scour the river for the remaining 12 passengers.
A total of 15 passengers survived, most with injuries,, while two passengers in a taxi that was hit on the bridge by the plane sustained minor injuries.
Hong Kong-based aviation analyst Daniel Tsang said: “Based on the flight path, the pilot deviated and tried to avoid obstacles. The pilot apparently made a conscious effort to avoid further and unnecessary casualties by ditching in the river. It was a very courageous move.”
Former aviation safety inspector at the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) David Soucie said: “Well I’ve gone through each of them [the dash-cam videos] frame by frame and as you can see … it goes out of sync meaning that the left propeller lost power ... so this movement to the left was intentional by the pilot to avoid the buildings … and to make an attempt to reduce fatalities by trying to get it onto the water and miss the obstructing bridge.”
One source said that most pilots were “trained to just continue straight, it’s the best lift and the engine will allow you to continue to travel” if they suffer a flame-out of an engine during a critical phase of flight, adding that Liao had “made that decision, a conscious decision” to steer the plane into the river.
Former US Department of Transportation Inspector General Mary Schiavo said: “He was pretty close to actually saving many more … here they would have probably made it, and many more would have survived, if that wing hadn’t dropped and they hadn’t scraped the wing.”
“Statistically speaking, just an outrageously bad safety record,” Schiavo said referring to TransAsia’s safety record, which has suffered five crashes since 1995, including TransAsia Airways Flight GE222 which crashed in Penghu in July last year, killing 48 people of the 58 on board.
Many former pilots of the ATR72-600 series said that it was possible to fly and land the plane using a single engine, which suggests a faulty engine was to blame.
Meanwhile, former Civil Aeronautics Administraton director-general Billy Chang (張國政) said that the pilot’s actions had sought to minimize damages to the ground, especially as the plane was above a densely populated region.
Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) also said that the pilot had done his best, adding that the plane crashed 50m before a utility tower holding high voltage lines, which could have caused a major blackout in Taipei.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is maintaining close ties with Beijing, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday, hours after a new round of Chinese military drills in the Taiwan Strait began. Political parties in a democracy have a responsibility to be loyal to the nation and defend its sovereignty, DPP spokesman Justin Wu (吳崢) told a news conference in Taipei. His comments came hours after Beijing announced via Chinese state media that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command was holding large-scale drills simulating a multi-pronged attack on Taiwan. Contrary to the KMT’s claims that it is staunchly anti-communist, KMT Deputy
RESPONSE: The government would investigate incidents of Taiwanese entertainers in China promoting CCP propaganda online in contravention of the law, the source said Taiwanese entertainers living in China who are found to have contravened cross-strait regulations or collaborated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) could be subject to fines, a source said on Sunday. Several Taiwanese entertainers have posted on the social media platform Sina Weibo saying that Taiwan “must be returned” to China, and sharing news articles from Chinese state media. In response, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has asked the Ministry of Culture to investigate whether the entertainers had contravened any laws, and asked for them to be questioned upon their return to Taiwan, an official familiar with the matter said. To curb repeated
Myanmar has turned down an offer of assistance from Taiwanese search-and-rescue teams after a magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck the nation on Friday last week, saying other international aid is sufficient, the National Fire Agency said yesterday. More than 1,700 have been killed and 3,400 injured in the quake that struck near the central Myanmar city of Mandalay early on Friday afternoon, followed minutes later by a magnitude 6.7 aftershock. Worldwide, 13 international search-and-rescue teams have been deployed, with another 13 teams mobilizing, the agency said. Taiwan’s search-and-rescue teams were on standby, but have since been told to stand down, as
RSS