The pilot
flying a TransAsia Airways ATR mistakenly switched off the plane's only
working engine seconds before it crashed in February, killing 43 people,
Taiwan's Aviation Safety Council (ASC) said in its latest report on
Thursday.
The
ASC's report also showed that Captain Liao Jian-zong had failed
simulator training in May 2014, in part because he had insufficient
knowledge of how to deal with an engine flame-out on take-off.
'Wow, pulled back the wrong side throttle,' Liao, 41, was heard to say on voice recordings seconds before the crash.
There
appeared to be confusion in the cockpit as the two captains tried to
regain control of the plane after one engine lost power about three
minutes into the doomed flight. Liao reduced the throttle on the working engine but did not appear to realise his mistake until it was too late. He
tried to restart the engines several times before a junior first
officer in the cockpit said: 'Impact, impact, brace for impact.'
Those were
the chilling last words heard on the data recordings, according to the
latest report of the ASC's investigation into the Feb. 4 crash. Seconds
later the almost new ATR 72-600, which had 58 people on board, crashed
upside down into a shallow river in Taipei after it lurched between
buildings, clipping an overpass and a taxi. Fifteen
people survived but all three pilots and 40 passengers and other crew
died in the second crash involving a TransAsia ATR plane in a year.
A source with direct knowledge of the report told Reuters on Wednesday the working engine had been shut off. The
ASC report, which neither assigns responsibility nor suggests
recommendations, paints a more detailed picture than a preliminary
report released days after the crash.
Liao,
a former air force pilot, began flying commercial aircraft in 2009 and
joined TransAsia the following year. He was promoted to captain in
August 2014 and joined the ATR 72-600 fleet in November. He had a total of 4,914 flight hours on ATR 72 planes.
However,
the report showed that Liao failed the simulator check in May 2014 when
he was being evaluated for promotion. Assessors found he had a tendency
not to complete procedures and checks, and his 'cockpit management and
flight planning' were also found wanting. However,
he passed after a second simulator check on June 29 and 30 and was
promoted to captain, although similar problems were detected during
training from July 2-10 last year.
Instructors
commented that he was 'prone to be nervous and may make oral errors
during the engine start procedure' and displayed a 'lack of confidence',
the report shows.
