missing Taiwanese cargo jet

[heavy iron driver]

I just caught a blip on CNN Int'l regarding a missing Taiwanese cargo jet. Does anyone have news to share?

[justplanes]

Taiwanese cargo plane crashes while flying to Macau, officials say
24 minutes ago



TAIPEI, Taiwan - A Taiwanese cargo plane with a crew of two crashed early Saturday in the Taiwan Strait while flying to Macau, officials said.


TransAsia Airways Flight GE791 disappeared from radar screens about 50 minutes after taking off from Taipei's international airport at 1:05 a.m. local time, said Kay Yong, the chief investigator at Taiwan's Aviation Safety Council.


Debris believed to be from the French-made ATR72-200 plane was found Saturday morning near the Penghu Island chain, off Taiwan's west coast, said Billy Chang, director of the Civil Aeronautics Administration.


The pilot, Pan Teh-chung, was an ex-air force flier, an airline official said. The plane, which was carrying a cargo of fabric and leather, was 10 years old and was last inspected on Nov. 18, the official said.


Cloud cover at the time of the accident was thick, he said. Just before contact was lost, the plane requested to lower its altitude from 5,454 meters (18,000 feet) to 4,848 meters (16,000 feet), Yong said.


Investigators have been dispatched to inspect all of TransAsia's other planes of the same type, said Chang.

[411A]

Anyone else see a common thread with nearly all of these Taiwan incidents/accidents?

[typhoonpilot]

I am in Taiwan right now and this is big news here. Any crash is sad for all concerned, especially the families of the deceased. 411A's comment is not well timed nor appropriate.

The weather was quite poor last night with heavy rain near the area of the crash and snow in the higher mountains of Taiwan.

The registration number was B-22708 and it was a cargo only aircraft.

Didn't an ATR crash near O'Hare due to icing a few years back ?
It would be premature speculation to suggest that was the case with this crash since very few facts have come out but it is a possibility considering the weather.

Typhoonpilot

[Bus429]

ATR Icing (http://www.airweb.faa.gov/Regulatory_and_Guidance_Library/rgad.nsf/0/20E3D1A9AA7B85508625698400482FB0?OpenDocument&Highlight=atr%2072)

[FLEXPWR]

Bus 429,

I don't think it is very nice to just drop the "icing conditions" link without any further comments.
At this stage, nothing has been ruled out, or confirmed about the origin of this accident, and the ones not familiar with this aircraft will use posts like yours to make direct assomptions about the cause of this tragedy.

No offense, but I would like to remind you how difficult it is to find the origin of such a situation, and would advise to remain precautious on the type of information, and the WAY it is posted, at least for the respect of the people involved, the families, until the cause has been identified.

I have myself a few thousand hours on this aircraft type, and the "youth flaws" of this airplane about icing conditions have been once noted, and corrected by further improvements of the de-Icing equipment.
It could be any other technical reason, or human error, or weather conditions.
Of course extreme severe icing could put down any turboprop, and many other class of airplanes.

[ZFT]

<<Didn't an ATR crash near O'Hare due to icing a few years back ?
It would be premature speculation to suggest that was the case with this crash since very few facts have come out but it is a possibility considering the weather>>

So why speculate?

[lomapaseo]

Do other operators operate the ATR72 as All cargo ?

[ZFT]

IOMAPASEO

Extract from ATR website "ATR has developed a wide cargo door for the ATR 72, and the first, modified by Aeronavale, has been sold to launch customer Farnair of Switzerland. There are currently eight standard-door ATR 72s in cargo operation. To date 29 ATRs are operated in cargo configuration."

[Bus429]

FLXPWR- don't be a plonker! I was merely supplying information in response to Typhoon's musings. Wasn't speculating at all.

In any case, another tragic loss. Condolences to those affected.

[World Traveller]

Lomapaseo - Farnair had an all cargo ATR72 at farnborough this year. The French PO (operated by Airlinair??) have a few aswell I think (don't know if they are modified in any way).

B-22708 is a former Gill Airways machine, G-BXYV, who i guess would have routinely operated it as a freighter for the overnight mail flights.

WT
-just a punter

[typhoonpilot]

Here is another story from Sunday's Taipei Times

Published on TaipeiTimes
http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2002/12/22/188118

The headline articles was http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2002/12/22/188110

Typhoonpilot

[lomapaseo]

from above "One possible cause of the crash is aircraft icing. The temperature at an altitude of 5,486m was -9?C at that time," Yong said.

Is the -9?C a misprint ?