BEIJING, Feb. 8(Xinhuanet) --Taiwan's Aviation Safety Council says blackbox data and voice recorders from the crashed TransAsia plane show that its engines failed to produce enough thrust to the propellers two minutes after take-off, revealing that one apparently functioning engine was turned off and restarted.
Authorities said the plane's warning system warned of stalling five times before crashing in the center of Taipei. CCTV spoke to Zhang Wei, an expert from the Chinese Society of Aeronautics and Astronautics for a more in-depth ananlysis.
"Five warnings means that the pilot was attempting to control the plane, to keep it flying. But the flying speed was too low to keep it in the air. Engine alarms and stalling are the most difficult moments for the pilot. Once the engines have problems and it becomes hard to control the plane, the first thing a pilot needs to do is make an emergency landing," he said.
The Aviation Safety Council says the right engine entered a state called "auto-feather", in which it reduced thrust to the propeller. The flight crew then reduced acceleration to the left engine, turned it off and then attempted to restart it, but it did not gain enough thrust.
According to the data, the first engine experienced a problem 37 seconds after take-off at 1,200 feet. And the pilot had announced a "flameout", which can occur when fuel supply to an engine is interrupted or when there is faulty combustion, but there had not been one. A fuller report on the crash will be available in next 30 days, with a final report expected in the next three to six months.
(Source: CNTV.cn)
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