TransAsia Airlines continues the process of retesting several of its ATR 72 pilots for response to engine failures following their suspension from duty from the Taiwanese carrier. Ten pilots have already failed written proficiency tests as ordered by Taiwan’s Civil Aeronautics Administration after the February 4 crash of a TransAsia ATR 72-600 in Taipei that claimed the lives of 43 of the 58 occupants. Another 19 pilots did not take the test due to either illness or travel, and the airline suspended them as well until they passed new tests.
In a statement to AIN, ATR said the airline hadn’t yet asked for simulator retraining at the manufacturer’s training center in Singapore, but that it “remain[s] at its disposal if needed.”
Flight recorder data indicates that a right-engine flameout occurred soon after takeoff, followed by a left-engine shutdown, according to a preliminary report released by the Taiwan’s Aviation Safety Council.
Taiwanese officials would not speculate on why the pilots apparently shut down the left engine after the right engine failed. “The investigator in charge of this occurrence emphasized the objective of the investigation is to prevent reoccurrence of a similar occurrences,” said the report. “It is not the purpose of such investigation to apportion blame or liability.”
Video footage of the event taken by a motorist driving on an elevated roadway in Taipei’s Nangang District shows the 72-seat turboprop banking sharply left, barely missing an apartment building and clipping with its left wing the top of a taxi traveling on the overpass before diving into the Keelung River. Rescue crews on the scene minutes after the crash pulled 15 survivors from the wreckage. By February 12 search crews recovered all 43 of the victims' bodies.