bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

paywallTypes

createdDate

publishedDate

urlAlias

moreOnThisArticles

sponsorType

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

articleSpeeches

socialHeadline

headline

images

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

sponsor

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

Stella Lee

The China Airlines captain and his co-pilot, grounded after the crash at Chek Lap Kok, are to be asked to appear at a meeting with Taiwan civil aviation chiefs to decide if they can return to work.

 Captain Gerardo Lettich, 58, and co-pilot Liu Cheng-hsi, 36, returned to their homes in Italy and Taiwan after the crash on August 22.

 The head of Taiwan's Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA) flight standards division, Hsu Yung-hao, said a meeting would be held within a month to decide if the pair should be disciplined and whether they should be allowed to fly again.

 'They will be asked to attend the meeting. If they do not show up, they will lose the chance to speak for themselves,' he said.

 CAA members, a lawyer and representatives of the pilots' association in Taiwan will attend.

 Mr Hsu said pilots in Taiwan could receive fines of between NT$60,000 (HK$14,400) to NT$300,000 if they breached civil aviation laws.

 They could also face suspension from flying for a year or for life, depending on the seriousness of their mistakes.

 The Civil Aviation Department, which issued an initial report on Friday, said the full probe could take two years.

 The initial report found the pilot landed in cross-winds of 26.6 knots, exceeding company safety guidelines of 24 knots.

 While the co-pilot was alleged to have said he had urged the captain to abort the landing when the plane tilted 15 degrees, the captain said the warning came too late.

 As the department report also found a sudden drop of airspeed from 170 knots to 152 knots just before the jet touched down, China Airlines raised the possibility of wind shear as a factor in response to the preliminary report.



Pilots urged to attend meeting with Taiwan aviation heads