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TransAsia Airways Flight 235: Difference between revisions

Coordinates: 25°03′48″N 121°37′04″E / 25.06333°N 121.61778°E / 25.06333; 121.61778
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==Passengers and crew==
==Passengers and crew==


⚫
The passengers were 49 adults and four children. Thirty-one passengers were [[Mainland Chinese|mainlanders]], many from [[Xiamen]] who were on a six-day tour. The remaining 22 passengers were Taiwanese.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Chung|first1=Lawrence|title=Search for survivors after Taiwan plane crashes into river; 24 confirmed dead|url=http://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1701465/airplane-carrying-over-50-people-crashes-river-taiwan|accessdate=4 February 2015|work=South China Morning Post|date=4 February 2015}}</ref><ref name="scmp">{{cite news|last1=Huang|first1=Keira Lu|last2=Chen|first2=Andrea|title=Taiwan official confirms pilot’s ‘mayday’ call authentic as air crash death toll rises|url=http://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1702746/search-resumes-taiwan-death-toll-transasia-air-crash-rises-31|accessdate=5 February 2015|work=South China Morning Post|date=5 February 2015}}</ref> The crew consisted of three pilots and two flight attendants.<ref name="scmp"/>
The passengers were 49 adults and four children: 31 were Taiwanese{{efn|Including:
*22 passengers and 5 crew members
⚫
* 1 dual Taiwan-Hong Kong citizen.}}<ref>{{cite news|last1=Chung|first1=Lawrence|title=Search for survivors after Taiwan plane crashes into river; 24 confirmed dead|url=http://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1701465/airplane-carrying-over-50-people-crashes-river-taiwan|accessdate=4 February 2015|work=South China Morning Post|date=4 February 2015}}</ref> and 27 [[Mainland Chinese|mainlanders]] from [[Xiamen]] who were on a six-day tour.<ref name="scmp">{{cite news|last1=Huang|first1=Keira Lu|last2=Chen|first2=Andrea|title=Taiwan official confirms pilot’s ‘mayday’ call authentic as air crash death toll rises|url=http://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1702746/search-resumes-taiwan-death-toll-transasia-air-crash-rises-31|accessdate=5 February 2015|work=South China Morning Post|date=5 February 2015}}</ref> The crew consisted of three pilots and two flight attendants.<ref name="scmp"/>


The pilots on board the flight were:<ref name="scmp"/><ref>{{cite web|title=復興航空說明 2015-02-05 1700 版|url=http://www.tna.com.tw/promotions/news_show.aspx?id=686|website=TransAsia Airways|accessdate=5 February 2015|date=5 February 2015}}</ref>
The pilots on board the flight were:<ref name="scmp"/><ref>{{cite web|title=復興航空說明 2015-02-05 1700 版|url=http://www.tna.com.tw/promotions/news_show.aspx?id=686|website=TransAsia Airways|accessdate=5 February 2015|date=5 February 2015}}</ref>

Revision as of 20:21, 6 February 2015

TransAsia Airways Flight 235
Still from a dashcam video, showing Flight 235's left wing clipping a taxi and the Huandong Viaduct, moments before the aircraft crashed into the Keelung River
Accident
Date4 February 2015 (2015-02-04)
SummaryCrashed soon after takeoff; under investigation
SiteKeelung River, Taipei, Taiwan
25°03′48″N 121°37′04″E / 25.06333°N 121.61778°E / 25.06333; 121.61778
Aircraft
Aircraft typeATR 72-600
OperatorTransAsia Airways
RegistrationB-22816
Flight originTaipei Songshan Airport, Songshan, Taipei, Taiwan
DestinationKinmen Airport, Kinmen, Taiwan
Passengers53[1]
Crew5
FatalitiesAt least 35[2]
Injuries17 (including 2 on ground)[3]
Missing8[4][5]
Survivors15[4]

TransAsia Airways Flight 235 (GE235/TNA235) was a scheduled domestic flight that crashed into the Keelung River on 4 February 2015 shortly after takeoff from Taipei Songshan Airport, 5.4 km (3.4 mi) to the west. The TransAsia Airways flight, operated with a ten-month-old ATR 72-600 aircraft, was flying from Taipei to Kinmen (Quemoy) with 53 passengers and five crew on board. There were 15 survivors.[6][7]

Two minutes after takeoff, the pilots reported a flameout of one of the aircraft's turboprop engines. Flight 235 climbed to a maximum height of 1,050 feet (320 m) then descended. Immediately before impacting the river, it banked sharply left and clipped a taxi, which was travelling west on the Huandong Viaduct, then the viaduct itself, with its left wing.[8][9]

Flight 235 was the second fatal accident involving a TransAsia Airways ATR aircraft within a year, after Flight 222.[10]

Flight

Flight 235 was travelling with 53 passengers and five crew members on board. It departed Taipei Songshan Airport at 10:53 a.m. Taiwan time (02:53 UTC). On a recording of air traffic control communications from LiveATC.net, the final communication from the crew was: "Mayday, mayday, engine flameout."[6][8] At 10:55 a.m., the aircraft crashed into the Keelung River, on the border of Nangang District of Taipei and Xizhi District of New Taipei.

External videos
video icon Dashcam 1
video icon Dashcam 2

The crash was recorded by the dashcams in several cars travelling west along the elevated Huandong Viaduct next to the river. The aircraft, flying level, first cleared an apartment building. Then it rolled sharply, at nearly a 90-degree bank angle, left wing down. As the aircraft flew low over the elevated viaduct, its left wingtip struck the front of a taxi travelling west on the viaduct, and the outboard section of the wing was torn off when it struck the concrete guardrail at the edge of the viaduct. Two people in the taxi were injured.[3][8][6]

At least 35 people on the flight have been confirmed dead.[2]

Aftermath and rescue

The aircraft in the Keelung River under rescue, Huandong Viaduct in background

Immediately after the crash, the police and fire departments of Taipei received dozens of phone calls from eyewitnesses noting that a plane had crashed near the Keelung River. The Taipei Fire Department, military and voluntary rescue workers arrived at the crash scene minutes after the crash, started removing people from the semi-submerged fuselage and ferried them to shore using inflatable boats. Divers were involved in the rescue efforts, but dangerous conditions in the wreckage and low visibility made their work very difficult. Rescue workers later stated in the news that the entire cabin of the plane was crushed and they were unable to get passengers off their seats with the seat belts clamped, and scissors were therefore used to cut and detach the seats from the aircraft to get the passengers out, especially towards the front of the plane. Most survivors were seated near the rear.

The aircraft's flight recorders were recovered shortly after 4:00 p.m. After 8:00 p.m., cranes were used to lift large sections of the fuselage ashore.[6][11][12]

Aircraft

B-22816, the aircraft involved in the crash, in January 2015

The aircraft involved in the accident was an ATR 72-600 twin turboprop, registration B-22816, MSN 1141. It first flew on 28 March 2014, and was delivered to TransAsia Airways on 15 April 2014.[13]

Passengers and crew

The passengers were 49 adults and four children. Thirty-one passengers were mainlanders, many from Xiamen who were on a six-day tour. The remaining 22 passengers were Taiwanese.[14][15] The crew consisted of three pilots and two flight attendants.[15]

The pilots on board the flight were:[15][16]

  • Captain Liao Chien-tsung, age 42, a Taiwan citizen, had a total of 4,914 flying hours;
  • Captain Liu Tzu-chung, a dual Taiwan-Hong Kong citizen, had a total of 6,922 flying hours;
  • First officer Hung Ping-chung, a Taiwan citizen, had a total of 16,121 flying hours.

Investigation

The Taiwanese Aviation Safety Council is leading the investigation into the accident.[8][17] The French BEA was invited to represent the country of manufacture, and the Transportation Safety Board of Canada will represent the country of engine manufacture. The cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder were recovered in the evening of 4 February. Data from them are being analysed.[9]

On 6 February, investigators announced that the left engine, which had not suffered a malfunction, had been manually shut down by the pilots, while cautioning that it was "too early to say if human error was a factor."[15] Investigators released the following preliminary sequence of events (all times local):[18][19]

  • 10:51:13 — Crew receives take-off clearance
  • 10:52:34 — Tower asks crew to contact Taipei Departure
  • 10:52:38 — Master warning sounds
  • 10:53:04 — Crew reduces power to the left engine
  • 10:53:12–18 — Stall warning sounds
  • 10:53:24 — Crew cuts power to the left engine
  • 10:53:34 — Crew declares emergency: "Mayday! Mayday! Engine flameout"
  • 10:54:09 — Crew calls for restarting the left engine multiple times
  • 10:54:20 — Left engine is restarted
  • 10:54:34 — Master warning sounds again
  • 10:54:34 — An unidentified sound is heard
  • 10:54:36 — Recordings end

Reactions

TransAsia

Following the accident, TransAsia changed their website and social media branding to greyscale images, in mourning for the presumed deaths of the passengers. On 5 February, TransAsia retired the flight number GE235, changing it to GE2353.[20]

Taiwan

The spokesperson of the Office of the President of the Republic of China reported that President Ma Ying-Jeou is very concerned about the incident and has given orders to the Executive Yuan and related authorities to provide maximum assistances and help on the rescue. The President of the Executive Yuan Mao Chi-Kuo contacted Taiwan's Ministry of Transportation and Civil Aeronautics Administration immediately after the incident for investigation of the crash, as well as contacting the Minister of National Defense to prepare the military for the rescue.[21]

China

On 5 February 2015, Xi Jinping, President of the People's Republic of China, requested that accurate information on the aircraft be obtained as quickly as possible and that assistance be provided in treating the injured people.[22] On the same day, Li Keqiang, Premier of the People's Republic of China, also requested that accurate information be obtained as quickly as possible.[23]

See also

Notes

References

  1. ^ "复兴空难已救出20名伤者 3名无生命迹象" [Disaster recovery have been rescued 20 persons who have been injured 3 no sign of life]. sina.com.cn (in Chinese). Retrieved 4 February 2015.
  2. ^ a b Ramzy, Austin (6 February 2015). "Plane That Crashed in Taiwan Had Trouble in Both Engines, Agency Says". The New York Times. Retrieved 6 February 2015.
  3. ^ a b "Taiwanese plane with 53 passengers crashes in Taipei river". Yahoo! News. 3 February 2015. Retrieved 4 February 2015.
  4. ^ a b "復興航空235航班事故說明（2月5日 16時 ）". Taiwan's Civil Aeronautics Administration. 5 February 2015. Retrieved 5 February 2015.
  5. ^ "TransAsia plane crash in Taipei: At least 31 killed, plane's tail lifted ashore". Retrieved 4 February 2015.
  6. ^ a b c d Ramzy, Austin (4 February 2015). "At Least 19 Killed After Plane Crashes Into River in Taiwan". The New York Times. Retrieved 4 February 2015.
  7. ^ G235 Accident Description Flight Safety Foundation Aviation Safety Network
  8. ^ a b c d "Taiwan TransAsia plane crashes into river". BBC News Online. 4 February 2015. Retrieved 4 February 2015.
  9. ^ a b "Crash: Transasia AT72 at Taipei on Feb 4th 2015, engine flame out, rolled sharply and lost height shortly after takeoff". The Aviation Herald. 4 February 2015. Retrieved 4 February 2015.
  10. ^ Euan McKirdy and Vivian Kam, CNN (4 February 2015). "Dashcam captures moment TransAsia plane hits bridge, crashes in Taipei - CNN.com". CNN. {{cite web}}: |author= has generic name (help)
  11. ^ Tsoi, Grace; Phillips, Tom (4 February 2015). "TransAsia plane crashes into river in Taiwan". The Telegraph. Retrieved 4 February 2015.
  12. ^ "Video: Rescue crews in Taiwan work to free passengers trapped in TransAsia plane". The Telegraph. 4 February 2015. Retrieved 4 February 2015.
  13. ^ "ATR 42/72 - 1141 - MSN B-22816". Airfleets.net. Retrieved 4 February 2015.
  14. ^ Chung, Lawrence (4 February 2015). "Search for survivors after Taiwan plane crashes into river; 24 confirmed dead". South China Morning Post. Retrieved 4 February 2015.
  15. ^ a b c d Huang, Keira Lu; Chen, Andrea (5 February 2015). "Taiwan official confirms pilot's 'mayday' call authentic as air crash death toll rises". South China Morning Post. Retrieved 5 February 2015. Cite error: The named reference "scmp" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  16. ^ "復興航空說明 2015-02-05 1700 版". TransAsia Airways. 5 February 2015. Retrieved 5 February 2015.
  17. ^ Culpan, Tim (4 February 2015). "Transasia Plane Crashes Near Taipei, Aviation Council Says". Bloomberg News. Retrieved 4 February 2015.
  18. ^ "TransAsia Airways Flight GE 235 Occurrence". Aviation Safety Council. 6 February 2015. Retrieved 6 February 2015.
  19. ^ "飛安會：正常一號發動機被關掉". 蘋果日報. 6 February 2015. Retrieved 6 February 2015.
  20. ^ "復興航空說明 2015-02-04 2300版". tna.com.tw. 4 February 2015. Retrieved 5 February 2015.
  21. ^ ETtoday 新聞雲 (4 February 2015). "快訊／復興墜南港　馬英九指示全力搜救、全面援助" (in Chinese (Taiwan)). ETtoday 新聞雲. Retrieved 4 February 2015.
  22. ^ Lu Hui (4 February 2015). "Xi orders assistance after TransAsia plane crash". Xinhua. Retrieved 4 February 2015.
  23. ^ Government of China (4 February 2015). "李克強就台灣復興航空班機墜河作出重要批示" (in Traditional Chinese). Government of China. Retrieved 4 February 2015.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to TransAsia Airways Flight 235.
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