HONG
KONG — The pilot of a plane that plunged over buildings, clipped a road
and slammed into a river in Taiwan in February acknowledged seconds
before impact that he had shut off the wrong engine, according to a report on the deadly crash released Thursday.
The
report from the Aviation Safety Council in Taiwan also said that the
pilot had failed a simulator test last year but passed a makeup exam.
The Feb. 4 crash
of TransAsia Airways Flight 235, which was filmed by dashboard cameras
that showed the plane plummeting over an elevated roadway in Taipei, the
capital, killed 43 passengers and crew members and injured 17,
including two people on the ground.
The
right engine of the ATR 72-600, a twin-engine turboprop, stopped
producing thrust shortly after takeoff from Taipei Songshan Airport,
according to the Aviation Safety Council’s report. But the pilot, Liao
Chien-tsung, 42, apparently thought there was a problem with the left
engine, which he shut off less than a minute later.
The shutting down of the wrong engine was seen as a likely cause
of the crash when the Aviation Safety Council released its initial
finding in February. A conclusion on the crash’s cause is to be included
in a final report scheduled to be published next year. The report
issued Thursday stops short of laying blame, but it offers new details
about what went wrong.
“Wow,
pulled back the wrong side throttle,” Mr. Liao said seconds before the
plane banked sharply, hitting a taxi and a barrier on the elevated
roadway before crashing into the Keelung River, according to a
transcript of the cockpit voice recorder.
The
report said Mr. Liao had failed a May 31, 2014, simulator test over
emergency procedures including engine fires, loss of hydraulic systems
and flying on a single engine. After another training session, he passed
a follow-up check a month later. But subsequent training in Singapore
found that he had “insufficient knowledge leading to hesitations” during
oral tests about what to do during an engine shutdown on takeoff or
loss of electronic engine controls, according to the report.
On
Thursday, TransAsia Airways executives bowed in apology at a news
conference and said they were strengthening safety procedures and pilot
training.
“We
sincerely accept these criticisms with an open mind,” said the
airline’s chief executive, Peter Chen. “I represent TransAsia in
offering our deepest apologies for the harm to society caused by this
incident.”
It
was the second deadly crash for TransAsia in just over six months. Last
July, a TransAsia ATR 72 flying to Magong, in the outlying Penghu
Islands of Taiwan, crashed as it was attempting to land in rain and wind shortly after a typhoon passed through the area. Forty-eight people were killed.
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