The Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA) and the nation’s airline companies are to be held accountable for the deterioration of aviation safety records, according to a report by the Aviation Safety Council (ASC).
The report was unveiled at yesterday’s meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee, during which ASC Chairperson Hwung Hweng-hwung (黃煌煇) briefed lawmakers on the council’s progress in its investigation into the causes of aviation incidents and aviation safety research.
According to the report, the average hull loss — an accident that damages an aircraft beyond economic repair — occurrence rate for commercial planes decreased from 3.18 times per million departures 10 years ago to 0.58 times per million departures this year.
Although the 10-year moving hull loss occurrence rate for turboprop airplanes was zero between 2004 and 2013, it rose to 3.09 times per million departures because of the TransAsia Airways Flight 222 crash in Penghu in July 2014 and the TransAsia Airways Flight 235 crash in Taipei last year.
The rate is higher than the global average, the report showed.
The council has suggested several measures to improve the nation’s aviation safety record.
Aside from improving airport facilities, the council suggested simplified flight data recorders be installed in some older aircraft not already equipped with such devices.
The council also said that there were eight incidents in the past five years involving aircraft overrunning the runway. To address the problem, the nation’s airline companies need to train pilots regarding procedures when an aircraft needs to circle, it said.
The CAA should have a safety-management system in place, the council said.
When questioned by the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lin Chun-hsien (林俊憲) on how the CAA has been implementing the changes recommended by the ASC, Hwung said that the agency is not mandated to enforce ASC’s suggestions to improve aviation safety, except special projects overseen by the Executive Yuan.
CAA Director-General Lin Tyh-ming (林志明) said that it had addressed some of the urgent safety issues facing the nation’s airlines, adding that issues need to be completed in phases.
DPP legislators Cheng Pao-ching (鄭寶清) and Yeh Yi-jin (葉宜津) said that people should not just think of the ASC as an agency investigating the causes of air crashes.
They said that human error and technical problems are the two main factors involved in airplane crashes in Taiwan, with percentages higher than the global average.
The ASC should prevent incidents and stipulate aviation safety policies, they said.
DPP Legislator Lee Kun-tse (李昆澤) pointed to the shortage of flight safety inspectors in the CAA.
He said that the number of aircraft owned by domestic flight carriers has increased by 47 percent over the past six years.
Domestic flights and domestic flight passengers have increased by 30 percent each, but the CAA only has 57 flight safety inspectors, Lee added.
Lee said that not many pilots or airlines are willing to voluntarily file reports with the ASC’s confidential aviation safety report system, adding that they were afraid that the reports would destroy careers or hurt the airline’s public image.
The council should offer more incentives for more pilots and airlines to do so, he added.
People First Party (PFP) Legislator Lee Hung-chun (李鴻鈞) said he is concerned that a China Airlines industrial dispute could compromise aviation safety, adding that the CAA should intervene on safety grounds.
SEND A MESSAGE: Sinking the amphibious assault ship, the lead warship of its class, is meant to show China the US Navy is capable of sinking their ships, an analyst said The US and allied navies plan to sink a 40,000-tonne ship at the latest Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) exercise to simulate defeating a Chinese amphibious assault on Taiwan. This year’s RIMPAC — the 29th iteration of the world’s largest naval exercise — involves the US, 28 partners, more than 25,000 personnel, 40 warships, three submarines and more than 150 aircraft operating in and around Hawaii from yesterday to Aug. 1, the US Navy said in a press release. The major components of the event include multidomain warfare exercises in multiship surface engagements, anti-submarine warfare and multi-axis defense of a carrier strike
Passengers aboard Korean Airlines Flight KE189 arrived in Taichung safely yesterday after a scare the previous day encountering uncontrolled decompression, which injured 13 passengers. Flight KE189 departed from Incheon at 4:45pm on Saturday bound for Taichung with 125 passengers on board. The flight was above Jeju Island when a fault in the pressurization system occurred 50 minutes after takeoff. Online flight tracker Flightradar24’s data show that the plane dropped more than 8,000 meters within 15 minutes, before it returned and landed back at Incheon Airport at 19:38pm. Thirteen passengers on board had a headache or earache due to the incident and were hospitalized. A different
China might seek to isolate Taiwan and weaken its economy through a “quarantine,” which would make it difficult for the US to respond and force Taipei to negotiate on unification, CNN reported on Saturday. Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) “increasingly bellicose actions” toward Taiwan have heightened concerns that Beijing would use its military against Taiwan, it said, citing a report by think tank the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). However, China might choose to initiate a quarantine, rather than a military invasion of Taiwan, to avoid US involvement, it said. “A quarantine [is] a law enforcement-led operation to control
A new message broadcast on the Taipei MRT’s Wenhu (Brown) Line urging passengers to yield their seats to those in need, not necessarily elderly people, would be extended to other MRT lines and public transportation in the capital, Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) said yesterday. Chiang was responding to reporters’ questions on the sidelines of a news conference at Taipei City Hall promoting healthy walking. Several disputes over priority seats on public transportation have recently been reported, sparking debate about who qualifies to sit in them, as most of the cases involved elderly people asking young people to give up their