The crew of the Singapore Airlines (SIA) Boeing 747-400 that crashed at Taipei Airport in October 2000 appear to have avoided prosecution in Taiwan, although as Flight International went to press SIA was saying that the Taiwan authorities had not informed them of their decision. The prosecutors have, however, banned the crew from flying into Taiwan for a year.
Two factors appear to have swayed the prosecutors: the pilots booked advertisements in Taiwan newspapers on 7 June expressing sympathy with those harmed or affected by the accident - SIA says this was a deal with Taiwan; and the prosecutors have taken account of the severe weather on the night of the accident.
The 747 crashed when it was cleared for departure from Taipei's runway 05L but used parallel runway 05R which was closed for construction work, and the aircraft hit heavy machinery.
Prosecutors detained the pilots nearly two months after the accident and they were only allowed to return to Singapore after assurances that they would return to Taiwan if called. Early last month prosecutors called the crew back to Taipei for questioning.
Source: Flight International
