NICHOLAS IONIDES / SINGAPORE
Lucky escape as twinjet strikes vehicle carrying out overnight repairs at Tainan Airport
Taiwan's Aviation Safety Council (ASC) and air force are investigating a 21 March accident in which a TransAsia Airways Airbus A321 suffered "substantial damage" when it struck a construction vehicle on landing at Tainan Airport, injuring three people. ASC investigator Tracy Jen says the collision occurred at 22:34 as the aircraft, carrying 169 passengers and six crew, was arriving from Taipei.
On landing at Tainan the A321, travelling at 115kt (210km/h) according to Jen, struck a vehicle used for maintaining the airport's 10,000ft (3,050m) long civil runway 36R/18L, injuring its three occupants. The parallel runway 36L/18R handles military traffic and is used as a taxiway for civil aircraft.
The seven-year-old A321 (B-22603) suffered damage to its left main landing gear and aft fuselage. The ASC is jointly investigating with the air force because the airport is a military airfield under military air traffic control. It is leased for civilian use by the Civil Aeronautics Administration. French authorities, already assisting with an investigation into the December crash of a TransAsia ATR 72 freighter, are also acting as lead certificating authority representatives in the A321 probe.
Jen says Tainan Airport has been maintaining an overnight curfew from 22:30 each day because of ongoing runway repairs, but the TransAsia aircraft was late due to schedule changes in Taipei. She says the cockpit voice recorder showed that the military air traffic controller gave landing clearance to the A321 crew 3min before touchdown, after which there was no communication.
In October 2000 a Singapore Airlines Boeing 747-400 attempted a departure from a closed runway at Taipei's Chiang Kai Shek International Airport. It collided with construction equipment and broke apart, killing 83 people.
Source: Flight International
