All 68 pilots of TransAsia's ATR fleet were ordered to undergo retraining and tests after Flight 235 crashed into a river in Taipei last week, killing 42 people on board. The crash was the carrier's second fatal air accident in seven months.
The head of the Civil Aeronautics Administration, Lin Tyh-ming, said the 10 pilots along with 19 others who have yet to take the oral proficiency test will be grounded until they pass the test. He said the 39 pilots who passed the test would be allowed to fly, but will need to undergo a simulation training at a later date.
Last Wednesday, the ATR 72-600 turboprop crashed into the city's Keelung River four minutes after takeoff from Taipei's Songshan Airport en route to Kinmen.
The crash left 15 injured and one Chinese national unaccounted for. Over half of the 58 people on board were Chinese nationals.
Initial findings from data retrieved from the plane's two recorders indicate that fuel to the left engine was manually cut off after the right engine appeared to have malfunctioned almost immediately after takeoff, raising the possibility that the pilot had mistakenly shut down the wrong engine, causing the plane to stop producing thrust just before it crashed into the river.
At this stage of the investigation, inclement weather and pilot fatigue don't appear to be contributing factors. Aviation investigators said a final report on the cause of the crash would to be released in about 12 months.
According to Taiwan's labor laws, pilots can be flying for a maximum of 8 hours a day, 120 hours a month and 1,000 hours a year. They are also entitled to at least 30 hours of rest time each week and must be off duty for at least 8 hours before a new shift.
TransAsia said Wednesday the International Civil Aviation Organization will dispatch a team on March 2 to assist with a comprehensive fleet inspection, but declined to provide further details. The airline also said it would consider raising minimum flight hours for new pilots. TransAsia's minimum flight hours of 300 are much lower than those required by its competitors, such as China Airlines , which requires 5,000 hours, and Delta Airlines , which requires 1,500 hours.
Source: Wall Street Journal by Jenny W. Hsu
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