Taiwan Air Force to pay for A321 mishap

[armchairpilot94116]

TransAsia Airways of Taiwan had to write off a then seven year old Airbus 321 (interestingly the accident happened on the 21st of March, 2003 thus 3.21) when the aircraft landed on a truck on the runway. ATC at the military airport was to blame and now the Taiwan court orders the Air Force to pay nearly 17 million US dollars in damages. No telling how this figure was arrived at.

The incident:

TransAsia A321 hits truck on runway while landing-01/04/2003-Flight International (http://www.flightglobal.com/articles/2003/04/01/163661/transasia-a321-hits-truck-on-runway-while-landing.html)

The recent court ruling:

Taiwan Air Force to pay airline record damages - Taiwan News Online (http://www.etaiwannews.com/etn/news_content.php?id=1340238&lang=eng_news&cate_img=logo_taiwan&cate_rss=TAIWAN_eng)

Taiwan Air Force to pay airline record damages
Agence France-Presse
Page 3
2010-08-07 12:00 AM

Taiwan's Air Force was ordered to pay a record NT$537 million (US$16.78 million) to an airline for causing its passenger plane to be damaged, a court official said yesterday.
TransAsia Airways, a small local carrier, sued the Air Force for failing to clear the runway after its Airbus hit a construction vehicle while landing in 2003 at Tainan Airport, a military-managed air field in southern Taiwan.

Three people in the vehicle were wounded while all 175 aboard the plane were unhurt, but the airline said it was forced to retire the plane because of the damage caused by the collision.

The amount sets a new local record for government compensation. However, the Air Force can still appeal the ruling.

[LessThanSte]

I though, and correct me if im wrong here, that the final call on landing was down to the pilot. Should this not have been visible to him when on final?

Then again, i guess that still doesnt explain why he had been given landing clearence when the runway was already in use. Presumably the vehicle hit did not have any strobe lights on?

It strikes me that theres a few things that could have stopped this accident from happening....

[armchairpilot94116]

As I recall reading, the plane landed at night. I doubt you can see a truck on the runway as you are coming in on a dark airfield. This was a military airfield so thus would be quite dark. This airfield also had fighter planes based there and I doubt they want to be well lit as a matter of principle. The plane was late and came in about ten minutes or so after the curfew. The tower gave permission to land but others involved with clearing and checking the runway for debris had thought the runway was closed. It would seem likely that the truck was not facing the direction the plane was coming in from or else the people in the truck would likely have seen the landing lights from quite far off. I would guess the truck didn't have strobes on either (if it even had them). Not being a commercial airport they have different rules.


A case of mis-communication. It was lucky no one lost their lives or was seriously hurt.