TransAsia Airways Flight 222

Flight 222 was scheduled to depart from Kaohsiung at 16:00 Taiwan time (08:00 UTC), but it was delayed by bad weather and took off at 17:43. The flight was uneventful until final approach. The weather at Magong Airport was inclement and visibility was poor, making it difficult for the pilots to see the runway. Kaohsiung Approach Control then instructed Flight 222 to remain in a holding pattern with three other aircraft. The flight crew then requested clearance to land on Runway 20. While they were waiting for their approach clearance, Kaohsiung Approach informed Flight 222 that the visibility had improved at Magong Airport. Immediately after that, the crew requested a landing clearance for Magong. Kaohsiung Approach then assigned the flight to a lower altitude and radar vector. At 18:55 the aircraft was cleared to land. Flight 222 descended and maintained their altitude at , then descended to their assigned altitude of . The crew then set their assigned altitude to , below the minimum descent altitude of . After descending through , the crew then set the altitude to . ==Background==

Aircraft The aircraft involved was an ATR 72-500, registered as B-22810 with serial number 642. It was also powered by two Pratt & Whitney Canada PW127F engines. Passengers and crew There were 54 passengers on board (four of whom were reported to be children) and a crew of four. The captain was Lee Yi-liang, aged 60, and the first officer was Chiang Kuan-hsing, aged 39. Lee had logged 22,994 flight hours (including 19,069 hours on the ATR 42/72) and Chiang 2,392 hours, with 2,083 of them on the ATR 42/72. Two French citizens and 46 Taiwanese (including all crew members) died in the accident. Among the victims was the Taiwanese master carpenter Yeh Ken-chuang. ==Aftermath==

Taiwan News reported that "first suspicions hinted" the accident might be related to Typhoon Matmo, TransAsia Airways general manager Chooi Yee-choong apologized for the accident in a news conference held on 23 July. On 30 July, TransAsia Airways announced that they had made changes to their standard operating procedures for domestic flights, and would henceforth require that visibility at the arrival airport be 50% above the published minimum before a landing is attempted, and that the maximum holding time waiting for the weather to clear before having to divert be thirty minutes. On 25 August, the airline announced compensation of NT$14.9 million for each of the 48 victims of the crash, the highest rate a Taiwanese airline has paid to crash victims since China Airlines Flight 611 in 2002. ==Investigation==

An official investigation led by the Aviation Safety Council (ASC) of Taiwan was initiated. The aircraft's flight recorders were recovered and read out. Some findings from the flight recorders were made known on 1 August 2014. It was revealed that the pilots announced an abort and go-around at 7:06 p.m., during final approach. At that time, the RPM of the number 1 (left pilot side) engine dropped, while unusual sounds were recorded by the cockpit voice recorder. These sounds were considered to be consistent with a propeller churning on trees, an interpretation supported by the discovery of remnants of tree branches in one engine. Typhoon Matmo Initially, Typhoon Matmo was considered to be the cause of the crash, as Matmo had made landfall earlier in the day. Taipei Center had prohibited pilots to fly, with Typhoon Matmo still above Taiwan. The typhoon damaged buildings in Taiwan and injured 10 people. When Matmo had passed most of Taiwan, Taipei Center cleared pilots to fly in Taiwanese airspace, but it still warned pilots that the weather in and around Penghu Island would remain inclement. The center of Matmo was only 23 nautical miles from Penghu Island. Infrared image from Japan Meteorological Agency's satellite showed that the area surrounding Penghu were coloured "magenta" at 18:57, meaning that weather in Penghu was severe. Based on survivors' accounts, while approaching Penghu, the aircraft entered several instances of turbulence with thunder and lightning. At 19:00, Captain Lee told the passengers to prepare for landing, and the aircraft then crashed and exploded. Investigators interviewed the crew in the tower, who stated that the visibility in Magong had been greatly reduced due to Typhoon Matmo, although several minutes later, the visibility improved significantly. The investigation found that this was a controlled flight into terrain accident. The crew had limited awareness of the aircraft's proximity to terrain. They continued the approach below the minimum descent altitude when they were not visually with the runway environment. The Captain was not complying with (and had a complete disregard for) policies, procedures and regulations. This type of hazardous attitude is characterized as "Anti-Authority". The final report reached the following final conclusion: ==Dramatization==

The crash was featured in the 2nd episode of Season 18 of Mayday (Air Crash Investigation). The episode is titled "Blown Away". ==See also==