Taiwan plane crash: Captain had concerns over plane

The TransAsia aircraft crashed soon after take-off from Taipei. Photo / AP

Captain of doomed flight rebuffed when he called for closer look at plane before takeoff, says whistleblower

The captain of the doomed TransAsia Flight GE235 complained of "engine abnormalities" but was rebuffed when he asked for an urgent inspection of the plane shortly before its final take-off, it has been claimed.

Liao Jianzong is among 32 people so far confirmed to have died when the aircraft crashed into a river shortly after taking off from Taipei's Songshan airport on Wednesday.

An unnamed whistleblower told Taiwan's Liberty Times newspaper that Liao sought a thorough inspection of the plane after noticing engine abnormalities during its previous flight. The pilot registered the problem on a flight log, the newspaper added.

The source claimed that TransAsia staff had inspected only the plane's communications equipment rather than performing a full inspection, for fear of incurring penalties for delaying the flight to the island of Kinmen.

Wu Huh-sheng, a company manager, rejected the allegation, saying TransAsia received no reports of "faulty engines".

So far no cause has been given for the crash, which was captured in dramatic footage from a dashboard camera. Civil aviation officials said the flight took off at 10.53am local time and lost contact with controllers two minutes later.

However, in their final message to air traffic controllers, the pilots suggested the plane had had catastrophic engine failure.

"Mayday! Mayday! Engine Flame-out!" one pilot says. A flame-out is where an engine loses power, with possible causes ranging from a bird strike to fuel starvation.

The ATR-72-600 prop-jet aircraft crashed shortly after take-off en route to the outlying Taiwan-controlled Kinmen islands. There were 53 passengers, including two children and 31 mainland Chinese citizens, and five crew on board.

The claims emerged as the death toll from the disaster rose. Eleven people are still missing while 15 survived.

Taiwanese aviation officials say the plane had been in service since April last year and had undergone a routine safety check last month.

Meanwhile, a couple and their toddler who survived the crash changed seats just before the plane took off - a move which may have saved their lives.

The plane came to rest upside-down in a river. An emergency exit was above the water line, allowing some passengers to escape as rescuers arrived on the scene.

The survivors included three members of the Lin family, including a 2-year-old boy who was found floating in the water "with [his] face turning pale and lips turning purple", according to United Daily.

He was pulled from the water by his father and was saved by being resuscitated.

The newspaper said the father had asked to switch from the left to the right side because he was concerned about a noise coming from the left wing. In the crash, the left wing clipped the highway and the plane cartwheeled into the river.

Footage captured on a dashboard camera suggested that the pilots may have been trying to avoid striking an apartment block just before the crash.

The captain, Liao, 42, and the first officer, Liu Zizhong, 45, both died in the crash.