Mechanical failure and turbulence could be ruled out for 80 percent as causes of the Black Hawk helicopter crash which killed eight senior military officers, reports said Saturday (Jan. 4).
Chief of General Staff Shen Yi-ming (沈一鳴) and seven others died when their helicopter crashed on a flight from the Taipei area to Yilan County in an isolated area Thursday (Jan. 2) morning, with five others surviving.
According to a preliminary investigation by the Taiwan Transportation Safety Board (TTSB), mechanical elements could be ruled out for 80 percent as the cause of the crash, while the weather, including turbulence and wind shear, could be excluded for 80 to 90 percent, CNA reported Saturday.
Officials reportedly were still looking at the possibility of human error contributing to the crash.
The TTSB was planning to hand over information from the helicopter’s black box or Flight Data Recorder to the Ministry of National Defense Saturday afternoon.
However, a chip card containing crucial data had been returned to its manufacturer for analysis. The card’s information would be able to reveal the facts about what had happened for 100 percent, including eventual instances of mechanical failure or erroneous handling of the chopper, CNA reported a TTSB source as saying.
Source：Taiwan News
