Engine failure and crew errors caused deadly Taipei crash

TransAsia Airways Flight GE235 clipped a bridge and plunged into a river shortly after take-off. Only 15 people survived. EPA

TAIPAI // A plane crash in Taiwan that killed 43 people when a passenger jet plunged into a river was caused by engine failure and flight crew errors, a damning final investigation report found.

TransAsia Airways Flight GE235 clipped a bridge and plunged into a river shortly after take-off from Taipei’s Songshan airport last February with 53 passengers and five crew on board. Only 15 people survived.

Earlier findings by the Aviation Safety Council last year revealed the pilot had shut down the only working engine, exclaiming: “Wow, pulled back wrong throttle,” seconds before the crash.

The council released the final, more detailed, investigation report on Thursday, which says the accident “was the result of many contributing factors, which culminated in a stall-induced loss of control”.

One of the engines was malfunctioning shortly after the plane took off, according to the report.

“The flight crew did not perform the documented abnormal and emergency procedures to identify the failure and implement the required corrective actions,” it said.

This led the pilot to shut down the other engine, the report added.

The pilot had previously failed a simulator test for engine failure on take-off, but passed on a retake.

A dramatic car dashcam video at the time showed the plane hitting an elevated road and crashing into the Keelung River.

TransAsia has seen several accidents in recent years that have raised concern about the airline’s safety standards.

Two air traffic control officers were charged in April over a crash in the Penghu islands in 2014 that killed 49.

They along with the aircraft’s two pilots were found to have been “negligent in their duties,” prosecutors said.

* Agence France-Presse