TransAsia Airways faces tough questions
Intense scrutiny ahead for TransAsia Airways as it comes to terms with second fatal incident in seven months involving an ATR-72 aircraft
Safety procedures at TransAsia Airways are likely to face intense scrutiny following the crash of Flight GE235 - the company's second fatal incident in seven months, and its fourth involving an ATR-72 aircraft since 1995.
Industry data suggests that yesterday's crash, in which at least 26 people were killed, was the sixth major crash involving the company since 1995.
Flight GE235, an ATR 72-600 with 58 passengers and crew on board, crashed into a river in northern Taiwan shortly after taking off from Taipei's Songshan airport. The death toll could still rise.
The crash came just under seven months after the fatal crash of another TransAsia Airways ATR-72, which came down on Penghu Island last year.
Industry consultancy Flightglobal Ascend said there had been four further major incidents in the airline's history, two fatal.
In December 2012, an ATR 72-200 freighter crashed en route to Macau from Taipei, killing both crew members. In 1995, an ATR 72-200 crashed into a hill near Songshan, killing all four crew.