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進入《TAIPEI TIMES 焦點》 TransAsia pilots sit skills tests
The body of a TransAsia Airways Flight GE235 flight attendant is carried from the Keelung River in Taipei yesterday. Photo: Wang Min-wei, Taipei Times
‘SOME RESPONSE’: It was said the decision by the CAA to require pilots to undergo a retest was ‘understandable’ in the face of possible public criticism over CAA practices
The first stage of a re-examination administered by the Civil Aeronautics Administration （CAA） to 71 TransAsia Airways pilots to test their capability to fly ATR 72-600 aircraft began at Taipei International Airport （Songshan airport） yesterday.
The first stage of the test consisted of an oral examination focusing on basic piloting knowledge and the procedures pilots are to follow during an engine failure. The second stage is scheduled to be conducted overseas on a flight simulator for ATR 72 aircraft, the administration said.
All 71 pilots are required to complete the first stage of the test by Tuesday; those who fail either stage would be indefinitely relieved of their duties until they are retrained and pass the tests, the CAA said.
The second test is scheduled to begin before the Lunar New Year holiday and is estimated to be completed by the middle of next month. Possible testing venues include Bangkok, Singapore and Hong Kong, the CAA added.
TransAsia Airways president Fred Wu （吳滬生） told a press conference in Taipei yesterday that his company had canceled 90 domestic flights, due to pilots’ re-examinations.
He said the company would do its best to help travelers whose travel plans have been disrupted to acquire train tickets, in particular those who plan to travel to Hualien.
The company has set aside NT$12 million （US$379,027） for compensation, of which NT$8 million has been claimed by family members of 40 passengers killed or injured in Wednesday’s crash in Taipei, Wu said.
An additional NT$1.2 million is planned to be issued to the family members of each deceased passenger to assist with the cost of funerals, he said.
When asked for comment on the CAA’s re-examinations, National Taiwan Ocean University professor and former Aviation Safety Council deputy minister Michael Gau （高聖惕） said the move was “understandable,” but that the move might not directly address the issues that caused the accident, the specifics of which would require a wait of at least four months for a detailed analysis of information contained in the aircraft’s flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder.
Commenting on preliminary investigation results that indicate the cause of the crash was human error, Kao said: “It seems that TransAsia’s pilots are not very accomplished. I can understand the CAA’s move [to test the pilots]. It has to show some response; otherwise, it risks becoming the subject of public criticism.”
In related news, five more bodies were recovered during yesterday’s search, raising the death toll to 40 and reducing the number of passengers still unaccounted for to three.
Four bodies were identified: Chen Yi-jung （陳藝榕）, a Chinese female; Chen Mei-jung （陳美榕）, a Taiwanese female; Yu Ya-she （余雅舍）, a Taiwanese male; and Yeh Chia-ching （葉家菁）, a female flight attendant from Taiwan.
A male body was still being identified as of press time last night.
新聞來源：TAIPEI TIMES
