Azernews.Az

By Bloomberg

The TransAsia Airways Corp. flight that crashed in Taipei made a distress call soon after being given the go-ahead to take off, according to a recording of air traffic control communications.

“Mayday, mayday, engine flameout,” a male voice said, two minutes after a female controller cleared flight 235, according to an archived recording on LiveATC.net. Both the pilot Liao Jian-zong and co-pilot Liu Zi-zhong of the twin-engine turbo propeller plane died in the accident, according to the Civil Aeronautics Administration website.

Though the controller responded immediately, nothing further could be heard from the pilots, according to the recording. LiveATC.net is a website supported by users and advertising, relying on volunteers to post air-traffic control audio transmissions.

At least 31 people died while 15 of the 58 people aboard the ATR72 aircraft survived after it crashed into the Taiwanese capital’s Keelung River yesterday. The accident is the second for the Taipei-based carrier in less than a year after a similar aircraft type went off course and hit houses on the outlying island of Penghu.

Taiwanese air crash investigators were unable to immediately verify the pilot’s final words and will await a review of the cockpit voice recorder before commenting further, Aviation Safety Council spokesman Thomas Wang said by phone. TransAsia also declined to comment.

Clipping a Taxi

Pilot Liao had 4,914 hours of flying experience and his co- pilot 6,922 hours, TransAsia said in a Feb. 4 statement. Besides the two, there was an observer on board - Hong Bing-zhong with 16,121 hours of experience.

As the recovery continues into its second day with 12 unaccounted for, rescuers widened their search area to extend down the Keelung river, the adjoining Tamshui river and five nautical miles out to sea.

Flight 235 took off from Songshan airport in downtown Taipei for an hour-long flight to the island of Kinmen off mainland China. The pilot lost contact with the ground within four minutes, said TransAsia Chief Executive Officer Peter Chen.

Footage taken from a dashboard-mounted camera in a car showed the plane’s wings tilted at a steep angle as it swerved over an elevated highway, with one tip clipping a taxi and the railing before plunging into the Keelung River. Two people in the taxi suffered injuries, the city government said. Two tour groups from mainland China with 31 members were aboard the plane made by Toulouse, France-based ATR.

The nose and tail of the aircraft have been brought ashore and the two Pratt & Whitney engines have been found. The cockpit-voice recorder and the flight-data recorder were both recovered yesterday and sent for analysis. Parts of the wings still remain under water and rescue divers, boats and helicopters are in the area.

The Taipei-based airline said it will issue victims NT$200,000 ($6,373) each in emergency funds and NT$1.2 million for funeral expenses.