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ONE ENGINE FAILED on the TransAsia plane that crashed in Taiwan this week with the loss of at least 35 lives, and the pilots may have inexplicably shut down the other, investigators and experts said today.
Initial findings from the plane’s black boxes were released as reports emerged that the chief pilot was still clutching the joystick when his body was found in the cockpit, after he apparently battled to avoid populated areas. A ‘mayday’ call was also logged seconds after the engine failed.
The Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA) also disclosed that TransAsia Airways had failed to meet around a third of the regulatory requirements imposed after another fatal crash just seven months ago in Taiwan’s western Penghu islands.
On Wednesday the French-made ATR 72-600 plane, equipped with two Pratt & Whitney turboprop engines, plummeted into a river after clipping an elevated road, as shown in dramatic dashcam footage.
In the first account of the last moments of Flight GE235, Taiwan’s Aviation Safety Council said the right engine had “flamed out” about two minutes after takeoff from an airport in northern Taipei.
Warning signals blared in the cockpit and the left engine was then shut down manually by the crew, for unknown reasons, the council’s director Thomas Wang told a news conference.
“The pilot tried to restart the engines but to no avail. That means that during the flight’s final moments, neither engine had any thrust,” he said. “We heard ‘Mayday’ at 10:54:35.”
Wang said it was “not clear” why the left engine was shut down manually. “We are not reaching any judgement yet,” he said.
Probable error
But analysts said it was probable the crew made an error.
“It looks like they shut the wrong engine,” said Greg Waldron, the Singapore-based Asia managing editor at aviation industry publication Flightglobal.
“The right-side engine flamed out but that in itself is not enough to cause a crash because the ATR is designed to fly on one engine,” he noted.
“What happened was that a few seconds after engine two flamed out, they (the pilots) cut the fuel to engine one, and when they cut fuel to engine one that’s when things started to go haywire because the plane was not powered anymore.”
Gerry Soejatman, a Jakarta-based independent aviation analyst, said the Taiwan incident “could have been an innocent mistake”.
“I will have to take a look again but changes in the layout of the engine instrumentation of the aircraft (compared with an older version of the ATR 72) could be a factor,” he said.
TransAsia said late Friday all its 71 ATR pilots would be required to sit a CAA test to ensure they were properly qualified.
The airline said it had also decided to conduct a year-long review of the company, to be carried out by “an authoritative international team”.
- © AFP 2015.
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He did well to steer it into the river, (it that was intentional) saved as many lives as possible – but sacrificed his own. Class lad
There should be a fail safe that prevents you shutting both engines down.
There is..Rigorous training and a selection process that weeds out applicants who can’t make the correct decisions in highly stressfull situations..
That could cause more accidents. If both engines flame out and need to be restarted.
There is a fail safe it’s called its called look at your engine instrument indications
There is evidence of “Black Jack” behind the aft door in the tail section..
ET in the bottom right hand corner of the last photo is reduced to a 1/3rd of a pontoon.
Similar to British Midland B737 crash at Kegworth about fifteen years ago flight crew shut down wrong engine
Was thinking the same thing myself. Kegworth was an interesting lesson in pilots becoming familiar with design changes. The 737 in that case was a new version that fed the forward cabin with the number 2 engine. When the pilots saw the smoke they assumed it was the number 1 engine in fire as that had fed the flight deck in the previous version.
Joystick? It’s an ATR, not an Atari
Happened years ago when a BMI flight crashed into the side of the embankment on the M1, Just a few hundred meters from East Midlands airport.
Knew a survivor from that flight. Years since I seen him but won’t forget his story.
First I’ve heard of that captain being the chief pilot, is this factual or just another case of media-induced airline jargon?
By the way, it’s called a control column, not a joystick. Does that really need to be explained?
He might as well have been clutching his joystick for all the control he had over an aircraft with a double engine failure on climb out
Very true. I really don’t mean to sound pedantic but this kind of lazy journalism really annoys me. Doesn’t take a whole lot of research
Think I will stick with Ryanair!
Ryanair is that the airline that on same day last year over Spain requested emergency landing for three of its aircraft because due fuel saving procedure did not carry enough fuel to cater for such a scenario
And we’re Ryanair forced to change anything regarding fuelling their aircraft after the investigation ? No the weren’t….
“Were”
Don’t put me off flying altogether!
Tony Kilduff they were not forced to do anything just politely asked by the Irish Aviation Authority drop their minimum fuel load procedure
I don’t think they were. Minimum fuel limits are not regulated by the IAA. There are no grey areas in aviation, you are either within the law or you are not. In all of these cases over Spain Ryanair were found to be blameless.
Tony there were no grey areas in aviation until the cheep airlines got a foothold, in the east the likes of Air Asia in Ireland Ryanair both cut corners and both live on the edge of safety
Ryanair don’t cut corners on safety because they would not get away with it. This is the most regulated industry in the world. They fly over 300 aircraft, over 1,500 flights a day and have never had a single fatality. How does an airline that “cuts corners” have such an impeccable safety record ?
And no I don’t work for them.
Did’nt know his left from his right?
Why try to be funny? Read the article, could have been a different layout to previous cockpit display. Although I would’ve thought from a design point of view for obvious reasons they wouldn’t move controls around.
Ally, it’s happened before. The 1992 crash of a Copa Airlines flight was caused by the pilot switching his attitude indicator to the incorrect setting because in previous versions of the layout, he would have been doing it right.
Scary how getting left and right mixed up can cause such devastation but it can happen. In the heat of the moment, I can only imagine the pressure the pilots are under which only adds to the possibility of making a mistake.
I’ve been in an aircraft emergency before and the piolot was amazing. He kicked into his training mode and it was a sight to behold the sheer volume of tasks he was performing considering what was going on. In fairness though, everyone on the plane had a parachute on, including him, but still scary as f$&k.
I know hundreds of flights take place every day with these airlines but seeing these events happen more than usual lately, you couldn’t pay me to get on one. Tragic news, RIP to all
The last thing you should shout when you have a problem with a plane is May Day!! Forget about any chance of survival!
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