Air Crash Investigation TransAsia Flight 222

An ATR-72 operated by TransAsia was on its regular passenger flight to Magong Airport, Taiwan.

Onboard the aircraft were 54 passengers and 4 crew members.

The aircraft operating was an ATR 72-500. It first flew on 14 June 2000 and was delivered to TransAsia Airways on 6 July 2000. The aircraft had flown 27,039 hours in 40,387 flight cycles.

The flight was scheduled to depart at 16:00 but was delayed due to typhoon Matmo.

The en-route part of the flight was uneventful.

Magong Airport had a single runway designated as runway 02/20. Runway 02 was equipped with an instrument landing system and a landing visibility limitation for this runway was 800 meters. Runway 20 was equipped with a VOR non-precision approach system with a landing visibility limitation of 1,600 meters.

The weather conditions at Magong Airport were poor. According to the aerodrome routine meteorological report, the weather conditions range from the wind of 220 degrees at 17 knots gusting to 27 knots with visibility of 800 meters in heavy thunderstorms with rain. The cloud coverage was scattered at 200 feet, broken at 600 feet with few cumulonimbi at 1,200 feet, and overcast at 1,600 feet.

18:11:17
The aircraft approached Penghu Island. Kaohsiung Ground Control informed the flight crew that the weather conditions at Magong Airport were below landing minima. Because of that, the plane was radar vectored by ATC to enter the hold.

Including flight 222, there was a total of four aircraft in the hold waiting for an approach clearance for Magong runway 20.

18:27:38
Still, the visibility was 800 meters. The landing visibility limitation for runway 20 was 1,600 meters.
The crew discussed the visibility and tailwind landing limitations for runway 02, which looked better at that time. Then they requested radar vectors for the runway 02 ILS approach.

While the flight crew was waiting for the runway 02 ILS approach clearance, the visibility for runway 20 had improved to 1,600 meters. Then the crew of flight 222 requested the runway 20 VOR approach. The approach controller issued radar vectors to the crew and assigned them a lower altitude.

18:55:10
Flight 222 was cleared for the runway 20 VOR approach. The aircraft descended to and maintained 2,000 feet for a while.

Shortly before overflying the final approach fix, the aircraft started to descend from 2,000 feet to the crew selected altitude of 400 feet.

Now, the selected altitude was reset to 200 feet and the aircraft kept descending.

The minimum descent altitude for the Magong runway 20 approach was 330 feet. The flight crew did not discuss the MDA before continuing the approach. The aircraft descended below the MDA.

The captain disengaged the autopilot and began flying the aircraft manually.

While the crew was trying to locate the runway, the altitude, course, and attitude of the aircraft started to deviate from the intended settings.

Both engine power levers were advanced. The aircraft hit the foliage 850 meters northeast of the runway 20 threshold. Due to the high-impact forces and post-impact fire, the aircraft was destroyed.

Among 58 persons on board, all 4 crew members and 44 passengers sustained fatal injuries. Nine passengers sustained serious injuries and one passenger sustained minor injuries. Five residents on the ground sustained minor injuries.

Investigation Report

The crash was the result of CFIT, that is, an airworthy aircraft under the control of the flight crew was flown unintentionally into terrain with limited awareness by the crew of the aircraft’s proximity to terrain. The crew continued the approach below the MDA when they were not visual with the runway. The investigation report identified a range of contributing factors relating to the flight crew of the aircraft. TransAsia's flight operations and safety management processes, the communication of weather information to the flight crew, coordination issues at civil/military joint-use airport, and the regulatory oversight of TransAsia by the CAA.