Taiwan TransAsia plane crash-lands in Taipei river

[alp227]

Source: BBC

A plane belonging to Taiwanese carrier TransAsia Airways has crash-landed in a river in Taipei, local reports say.

More than 50 people were onboard at the time, and a number of people were reportedly injured.

Taiwan's Central News Agency (CNA) showed a picture of a plane almost submerged in the Keelung river.

In July last year 48 people died when a TransAsia Airways plane crashed amid stormy weather in Taiwan's Penghu archipelago.

Read more: http://www.bbc.com/news/business-31125052

[greyl]

1. 10 people have been rescued, others remain trapped.

(According to BBC News TV just now)

[OldRedneck]

2. Taipei International Airport

I assume this was on the approach to Taipei International.

I lived in Taiwan 1975 - 77 as an assistant defense attache, an assignment that required me to travel extensively throughout Asia.

Flying into TIA was an adventure -- the approach was between two ridges that suddenly ended at the airport. The ridges shielded the approaching aircraft from cross winds, but, when the aircraft broke out of the valley between the two ridges, on short final approach, crosswinds slammed into the aircraft, making it crab sideways. Experience pilots compensated for the crosswinds by yawing the aircraft slightly just before the end of the two ridges, thereby setting up the aircraft to compensate for the crosswinds. It was some scary shit.

I'll never forget my first landing at TIA. My seatmate was a US Air Force general, former B-52 pilot who had flown missions over Hanoi, dodging anti-aircraft missiles. When I saw him bracing himself, white-knuckled, with a look of terror on his face, I knew we were in deep do-do.

[Mr.Bill]

3. Caught on dash cam. This looks like a bad one.

[CreekDog]

4. Watch closely, before the crash, the left horizontal stabilizer looks damaged

Last edited Wed Feb 4, 2015, 02:26 AM - Edit history (1)

[Mr.Bill]

5. Good eye.

I believe you may be right.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

6. Does it clip the building?

Lucky there are any survivors. There appears to have been no post impact fire.

It appears he really pulled back right around the building which seems to increase the stall.

[CreekDog]

7. I wondered that, but I can't tell

but even if it did, something must have been wrong already to have come close enough to that building anyway.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

8. Power problem? Engine out? Maybe a configuration error or malfunction?

It appears to attempt nose up just prior to or right at the building which may have caused the left wing to stall. And/or he clipped the building.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

10. Cnn has a clearer slow motion showing better depth. It doesn't appear to have clipped.

http://www.cnn.com/2015/02/03/world/taiwan-plane-crash-transasia/index.html

[CreekDog]

12. in that image, the stabilizer doesn't look damaged either

could have been an issue with the video i saw before.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

9. Rescue footage:

At first I thought they were pulling bodies out and was prepared to post a graphic warning. These two seem to be alive. Amazing.

The plane appears to be not completely out of control (not nose first) and lands in shallow water.
Video at link:
https://uk.news.yahoo.com/domestic-passenger-flight-crashes-taiwan-58-people-aboard-040638130.html

From youtube

https://m.

Fro

[DemoTex]

11. My take on this from the video clip ..

As a retired airline captain and an ALPA airline accident investigator, a few things jump out at me when viewing this video:

1. Landing gear is not extended, and it would be for a normal or emergency landing, and;

2. Neither propeller appears to be feathered (IOW, both are turning - which doesn't necessarily mean one or both are producing power), although it is hard to tell from this video clip, and;

3. I also think the pilots may have sacrificed some airspeed to clear the buildings, which was wise - although it left them with little control crossing the road/bridge.

[Blue_Tires]

13. Early reports from ATC say they lost an engine...

Either way, this isn't going to look good for TransAsia -- They haven't had the best safety record in recent years...

[Hassin Bin Sober]

14. Yeah. Makes sense.

I think he was just trying to clear the buildings. I appears he yanked it back and that's when the left wing stalled.

Nbc is saying the crew radioed a mayday reporting a flame out.


I guess it's fortunate they hit ground before the spin fully developed. And the water helped.

The 64000 dollar question is why couldn't they fly with one engine?

[DemoTex]

15. My theory of airspeed bleed off to get over the buildings is the NBC/MSNBC "experts" line now ..

I used to work with Capt. John Cox on these types of things. He is the NBC/MSNBC guru now. In fact, we co-authored a couple of airline safety articles for a UK aviation training journal. The left roll is consistent with a non- or low-thrust producing port (left) engine in a sub-Vmc (speed below that calculated to be minimum to control the flight of the aircraft) excursion. Maybe even a non-feathered dead-engine prop (which would be disastrous).