Pilot error blamed for Taiwan's 2015 TransAsia plane crash

Taiwan's Aviation Safety Council (ASC) on Thursday released its final report on the fatal TransAsia Airways plane crash last year, blaming the accident on human error.

According to the report, a power failure in the number two engine of Flight GE235 occurred shortly after it took off from Songshan Airport in Taipei on Feb. 4, 2015.

The pilot mistakenly shut down the number one engine, although the monitoring co-pilot told him that the issue was with the other engine, according to the report.

"The loss of power from both engines was not detected and corrected by the crew in time to restart the number one engine," the report added.

The pilot attempted to restart the number one engine after realizing the error, but it was too late due to the limited altitude and time, according to investigators.

The plane, bound for Kinmen and carrying 53 passengers and five crew, crashed into Keelung River several minutes after take-off, killing 43 people -- 39 passengers and four crew members. Fifteen sustained injuries. One of its wings hit a taxi, injuring its driver and one passenger, before the plane plunged into the river.

The engine failure was probably caused by a flaw in the sensor device, according to the report.

The plane would have been able to fly safely with just one engine, said ASC executive director Thomas Wang at a press conference on the report.

The report mentioned that flight crew coordination, communication and error management were not effective. Endit