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進入《TAIPEI TIMES 焦點》 Crashed pilot chose to land: CAA
‘OWN DECISION’: The aviation body denied that air traffic control and the air force insisted that the pilot of the doomed TransAsia flight land on an unsuitable runway
By Shelley Shan / Staff reporter
The Civil Aeronautics Administration （CAA） yesterday denied that air traffic controllers had rejected a request from the pilot of the crashed TransAsia Airways Flight GE222 to land on a different runway, saying it was the pilot who chose to land on the original runway after visibility improved.
The Chinese-language Next Magazine yesterday published a story saying that the pilot of the TransAsia flight that crashed in Penghu County on Wednesday last week had requested a change from runway 20 （for flights flying north to south） to runway 02 （for flights flying south to north）.
However, the story said that the control tower and the Taiwanese air force rejected the pilot’s request and insisted that he land on runway 20. The aircraft then crashed amidst stormy weather, killing 48 people on board.
Yi Hsin-chuang （易心莊）, deputy director of the CAA’s air traffic services division, confirmed yesterday that the pilot requested to change runways.
However, she added that Magong Airport is jointly used by civilian and military aircraft, and any change of runway requires coordination between the two parties.
Yi said that there was a strong southwesterly wind blowing on Penghu at the time. As aircraft need to land or take off opposite the wind’s direction, all the planes arriving that day should land on runway 20, she said.
“We then asked the air force about TranAsia’s request to change to runway 02. While we were still coordinating, the pilot asked to land on runway 20 as visibility had improved,” she said. “We did not reject the pilot’s request.”
The agency said that runway 02 is equipped with an instrument landing system, which requires a minimum visibility of 800m. However, aircraft landing on runway 20 need to follow the guidance of a VHF omnidirectional range navigation system, which requires the pilot to approach the runway with visibility of 1,600m.
Because of the typhoon, Yi said the average wind speed at the airport at 6:30pm that day was 14 nautical miles （25.9km） per hour, with the strongest gusts measuring 24 nautical miles per hour.
She said both TransAsia and Uni Air flights submitted requests to change runways at about the same time, while they were waiting in the air for instructions to land. After air traffic controllers reported that visibility had improved to 1,600m at 6:40pm, the TransAsia flight then said it wanted to land on runway 20 instead of switching to runway 02, as it had previously requested.
Following the order of descent, the Uni Air flight went before the TransAsia Airways and landed safely.
Between 2pm and 7pm, a total of 17 flights had either landed at or taken off from Magong Airport using runway 20, Yi said.
Yu Yi-shi （喻宜式）, deputy director of the agency’s flight standard division, said that pilots have the right to choose different runways under normal or emergency situations.
The CAA did not disclose when exactly the TransAsia and Uni Air flights submitted their requests to change runways, nor did not say it how it had coordinated with the air force.
“We are also under investigation by the Aviation Safety Council, which has all the flight information of that time period,” Yi said.
新聞來源：TAIPEI TIMES
