The crash of a TransAsia Airways ATR 72-600 after take-off from Taiwan’s Songshan airport is the seventh significant safety incident involving the carrier since 1995.
Flightglobal’s Ascend Fleets shows that of the six previous incidents, four involved ATR aircraft and two involved Airbus A320 family jets. Including today’s crash, hull losses comprise four ATRs and one A321.
The most severe incident was the crash of an ATR 72-500 aircraft on 23 July 2014, which resulted in the loss of 48 out of 58 passengers and crew aboard.
Aside from this, two other TransAsia aircraft have crashed with loss of life. In 1995, an ATR 72-200 was lost when it flew into a hillside 20km south of Songshan airport while positioning for an instrument landing system (ILS) approach. The crash, which occurred, at night, killed all four crew aboard.
The other TransAsia incident that incurred fatalities was on 21 December 2002, when a TransAsia ATR 72-200F cargo aircraft crashed in the sea on the Taipei-Macau route, killing both crew members. A subsequent investigation revealed that the crew, concerned about “severe icing,” had descended to low altitude, with the aircraft then stalling and crashing.
In 2003 a TransAsia A321 suffered severe damage when, landing at night at Tainan with 170 passengers, it collided with a vehicle on the runway. The aircraft had, apparently, been cleared to land, and the vehicle had trespassed onto the runway without air traffic control clearance. The aircraft was deemed beyond repair.
In 2004, a TransAsia A320 overran on landing at Songshan airport after a flight from Tainan. There were no injuries among the 100 passengers and six crew. Though the A320 suffered significant damage, it was repaired.
The other incident involved an ATR 72-500 striking a lamppost with its wing while taxiing at Songshan airport. None of the 24 passengers and four crew suffered injuries, and the aircraft returned to service after repairs
Source: Cirium Dashboard
