SST S3-09 English Blog

" At the time, tropical storm Xangsan, which had caused devastation across the Philippines, was approaching Taiwan. Winds of up to 144kph and heavy rain were lashing the airport and causing poor visibility. "

2. Runway under repair was not cordoned off completely

" The disused strip at Taipei had not been completely blocked off because it was frequently used for taxi-ing aircraft... Instead, a barrier of concrete blocks had been erected one thousand metres down the runway at the beginning of the construction zone and marked with a light. "

3. Lack of communication

" Under such conditions, the control tower should have warned the pilots by radio about the closed runway. The 'black box' cockpit recorder indicated that wasn't done with the Singapore Airlines flight. "

4. Lack of ground monitoring

" The airport is not equipped with ground radar so the control tower could not visually check if the plane was on the correct runway... The use of ground monitoring would certainly have ensured the crash in Taiwan would not have occurred. "

5. Profit-driven decisions

" Air safety is being compromised by cost-cutting, economic restructuring... As the latest disaster in Taiwan indicates, when it comes to key issues – to block off a runway, to install ground radar, and bad weather takeoffs and landings – it is profit that very often decides. "

Opinion

I think that the pilots were partially at fault for making the decision to take off even under such harsh weather conditions. The pilots were under pressure from airlines to maintain tight schedules and avoid costly delays, and so decided to take off even with the strong winds and low visibility. However, it is also the fault of the airport authorities for "staying open so the pilot can make their own decision". The airport authority has the benefit of advance radar technology and other instrumentation on which to base a decision, which the pilots do not have. Thus, the airport authority should guide and advise pilots on their decisions, even shutting down the airport if necessary. Therefore, I feel that the pilots were at fault, but the airport authorities also had a major part to play in the cause of the accident, equal to, if not more than the decision that the pilots made.

Crash of SQ0006 by Vivek

Reasons for the crash of SIA’s SQ0006

Bad Weather Conditions

Weather conditions were very bad resulting in the driven not being able to see the cordoned off area for rebuilding as the visibility range is a lot lower due to the storm. The crosswinds were higher than safety standards. Though such conditions present, the pilot still wanted to take off.

Airport Control Tower having a lack of equipment

The Taiwanese airport control had no ground monitoring system so it could not track where the aircraft was at and what it was actually doing. Without this system safety is heavily compromised as without this system on such days with bad weather they are basing it on luck that nothing wrong happens.

Carelessness of the pilots

There were green lights switched on on the runway which indicate that the runway is not supposed to be in use however, the pilot might have forgotten about it and continued.

Money driven

Due to the fact that the pilot wants to earn money, passenger safety was put at risk as all of us know that visibility in a storm is very low and will only cause potential danger.

5. Improper maintenance and signals in airport

The Taiwanese airport control were also not completely well prepared as they did not cordon off the tracks which were in repair. Though there was concrete barriers around one kilometer ahead with lights, it is now adequate to inform the pilot of the construction. Especially as they did not make it evident enough for the pilot to not use that lane.

In my opinion,

In my opinion, the pilots are not totally at fault as we do not know what the directions given by the air control were. If the pilot did not follow them, I would say it is the pilots fault. However, if the instructions were not clear and such, I think the air control is more at fault than the pilots. This is as the pilot will think that the air control knows the airport better so he will not doubt them. Thus, it depends on the instructions given which will determine everything.

05 English Assignment (Grace Tan Soo Woon)

1. Horrible Weather Conditions

The "tropical storm Xangsan, which had caused devastation across the Philippines, was approaching Taiwan" at that time, causing "winds of up to 144kph" as well as heavy rain which lead to poor visibility. This cause have contributed to the pilots' misconception of which runway they were using and could have thus went onto the wrong runway, resulting in the accident.

2. Not cordoning the runway under construction

The "disused strip at Taipei had not been completely blocked off because it was frequently used for taxi-ing aircraft", which was against the International airport regulations that stated the requirement of a runway currently undergoing repair to be cordoned off. The airport only erected a concrete block barrier "1,000 metres down the runway at the beginning of the construction zone and marked with a light." There was heavy rain that day, and the light and barrier may not have been easily visible to the pilot, so he might have thought the runway was free for use due to the airport not cordoning off the runway, so it may not have been the pilots' fault but rather the lack of following regulations that lead to the accident.

3. Possible lack of lighting on the runways

CAA spokesman Kay Yong said that "the centre lights—green on the closed runway and white on the active one—were on." However, the passage also states that "investigators have yet to determine whether the 'edge lights' running along the sides of the closed runway were on or off." The passage also continues with stating another statement from Mr Yong, "If the lights on the runway were not on, then the runway would not have looked like a runway". If the side lights were really off, the pilots are not at fault for accidentally crashing the plane into the construction and concrete barrier, as they not only could not see clearly int he horrible weather conditions, they also could not make out which runway was which.

4. Not notifying aircrew about ongoing construction

"According to San Francisco-based attorney Gerald Sterns, who specializes in representing air crash victims' families, under such conditions the control tower should have warned the pilots by radio about the closed runway. 'The 'black box cockpit recorder indicated that wasn't done with the Singapore Airlines flight,'" This shows that there is no notification what so ever on the construction site on the runway close to the one the pilots were supposed to use, so the pilots cannot be blamed for not knowing the existence of the road block and be wary of it before crashing the plane into the barrier.

5. Under-equipped control tower

The passage also states "The airport is not equipped with ground radar so the control tower could not visually check if the plane was on the correct runway." In addition, "visibility was too low to physically see the jet from the tower", so in this case, the tower had no visuals on the plane and its movements, and are unable to warn the pilots on where they are heading to or whether they were going to crash into the construction barriers, so the pilots, not knowing about the construction and where they were heading to cannot be blamed from driving the plane straight into the barrier erected 1,000m along the runway.

EL Task - Scapegoats (Ren Chang)

Why did the accident occur?

1. Bad Weather conditions - tropical storm Xangsan was approaching Taiwan. Winds of up to 144 kph and heavy rain was lashing the airport causing poor visibility. The runway the plane was supposed to be on was near to one under repair and two had almost identical identification numbers, adding to the confusion.

2. Lack of proper facilities for the pilot - The airport is not equipped with ground radar so the control tower could not visually check if the plane was on the correct runway. Also, CAA spokesman Kay Yong also says that at the night "visibility was too low to physically see the jet from the tower".

3. Work stress of the pilot - Pilots need to keep strictly to their tight schedules and hence delays are costly. "Obviously pilots are under pressure from airlines to maintain tight schedules and avoid costly delays" Hong Kong-based aviation expert Jim Eckes this week called for the procedure to be changed, insisting that it should be the responsibility of airports to shut down in extremely bad weather.

4. Misunderstanding/Confusion - Another reason this occurred is due to misunderstandings or confusion that happened between Taipei and Singapore. There can be some discrepancies between reported weather and real weather conditions. The information given could be that it wasn't "real time", that is, it is dated.

5. Lack of guidance for the pilot - Lastly, this could happen because the pilots do not have enough help or guidance from the airport authority. The airport authority has more advanced radar technology and other instruments that is useful and critical in flying the plane. However, the airport authority might not bring this vital information to the pilots themselves. Eckes says "Pilots need help, especially in difficult conditions. There are turbulence or wind shear problems which the plane's system doesn't indicate."

My own opinion

I don't think the pilots were totally at fault. The pilot is pressured to follow his schedule closely and at the same time maintain the safety of all his passengers. Therefore, there is a a lot of stress on the pilots. Due to this stress, the pilots could be forced to carry out a few decisions that they might feel is not right. In the passage, it states that "Runways are only closed if pilots insist on flying in conditions that the airport authorities feel present an 'immediate danger to the aircraft'." Hong Kong-based aviation expert also agrees that "it should be the responsibility of airports to shut down in extremely bad weather". Therefore, the pilots do not have much say whether they want to fly the plane or not.

--
Wee Ren Chang S3-09, (21)