Two prosecuted for Taiwan TransAsia 2014 plane crash

Taiwan's local procuratorate said Thursday that it had completed investigation into a plane crash that claimed 48 lives and would prosecute two ground service personnel.

On July 23, 2014, a TransAsia Airways aircraft took off from Kaohsiung Airport, heading for Magong in the Penghu archipelago. There were 58 people on board -- four crew and 54 passengers. The plane crashed near Magong Airport into a residential area, killing 48.

Prosecutors in Penghu said in a press conference that the pilot and co-pilot of the GE222 aircraft had requested to use a runway equipped with Instrument Landing System (ILS) due to low visibility under the influence of a typhoon.

However, the military duty officer was not familiar with standard for civil use of different runways in different levels of visibility, and failed to give the permission.

The local procuratorate said both duty officer and air traffic control staff would be charged with "professional negligence resulting in death." It added the pilot and the co-pilot were also negligent, but were both killed in the crash.

A January report by Taiwan's Aviation Safety Council placed much of the blame on the pilots' non-compliance of standard operating procedure (SOP). According to the flight recorder data, non-compliance with SOP occurred throughout the flight. Endi