http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-31162351

Taiwan’s Aviation Safety Council have given an initial report on the crash of Flight GE235 last Wednesday, 4 February 2015, having examined data from the plane’s Black-Box.

Problems began for TransAsia GE235 just 37 seconds after taking off from Taipei, Taiwan’s Songshan airport:

10:53:28: Plane at 1200ft (366m):
Engine #2 (right-hand) switched, for an unknown reason, to auto-feather (idle; the blades of the propeller are turned so that they do not bite into the air), which itself then causes the engine to stop producing any power (this is a protection mechanism for the engine).

The plane flashed a flame-out signal for that engine, though in fact there was no flame-out (the oil pressure had not changed).

10:53:29:
Engine #1 (left-hand) shut down manually (by the 42-year-old pilot, Liao Chien-tsung).

The plane is an ATR 72-600, and is able to fly with just one functioning engine. It is not known why Mr Liao shut the #1 engine down.

Mr Liao then tried to restart the engines, but that did not work. Thus, during the flight’s final moments, neither engine had any thrust.

10:54:35:
“Mayday, mayday, engine flameout” radioed by pilot to base.

10:55: (approx)
Liao Chien-tsung & his co-pilot stayed at the controls to the bitter end, and has been paid tribute by the Taiwanese Vice President Wu Den-yih. Mr Liao steered the plane past apartment blocks, commercial buildings and even the elevated motorway until it crashed into the Keelung River.

Both the pilot and co-pilot were found dead in the cockpit with their legs badly broken; Mr Liao’s hands were still on the plane’s controls. 15 passengers were pulled out of the wreckage alive. Without doubt, the 2 pilots had saved many people’s lives, even though they lost their own.

---------
Alex Kemp