Investigators baffled over why CAL plane crashed<\/p>\n
TAIPEI (AFP): Investigators were stymied yesterday over why a
\nChina Airlines Airbus crashed into a row of houses six days ago
\nkilling 202 people, despite the recovery of initial data from one
\nof the plane's "black boxes."<\/p>\n
Chief investigator Chang Kuo-cheng said an initial analysis of
\nCAL Flight 676's last moments had been recovered from the cockpit
\nvoice recorder but he would not elaborate on any possible
\nfindings.<\/p>\n
"The decoding of the cockpit voice recorder has been
\ncompleted," Chang was quoted as saying on television late
\nyesterday, adding that more information was expected with the
\ndecoding of other flight data.<\/p>\n
"The flight data recorder is expected to be brought home on
\nFeb. 25" from Australia where it was being analyzed, said Chang,
\ndeputy director of Taiwan's Civil Aeronautics Administration
\n(CAA).<\/p>\n
Officials have said the information contained in the "black
\nboxes" could prove crucial to explaining why the Airbus 300-600
\njet, carrying 182 passengers and 14 crew, slammed into the row of
\nhouses at the edge of the airport and killed all on board as well
\nas six on the ground.<\/p>\n
Authorities have been tight-lipped about possible causes of
\nthe crash amid numerous rumors in the local press.<\/p>\n
Chang angrily rejected speculation in a television report,
\nwhich quoted unnamed sources at the plane's makers Airbus
\nIndustrie, that human error and the weather were to blame.<\/p>\n
"Shortly before and after the crash, many other planes had
\nlanded there," Chang told AFP, dismissing speculation that heavy
\ncloud cover at the time over Chiang Kai-shek International
\nAirport was a factor.<\/p>\n
"I wonder why they said that, before the investigation is
\ncomplete," said Chang, adding "maybe to shrug off their
\nresponsibilities."<\/p>\n
But Airbus Industrie regional communications manager Sean Lee
\ntold AFP from Singapore yesterday: "I think this has somehow
\ngotten misreported. We can't speculate on causes."<\/p>\n
Local television has been running computer simulations on the
\nlast moments of China Airlines (CAL) Flight 676, focusing on
\ndialogue between captain Kang Lung-lin and the control tower as
\nwell as on witness reports that the plane was seen "veering left"
\nduring its final approach to land.<\/p>\n
But analysts have called the simulations inaccurate and said
\nthey were probably based on an accident four years ago involving
\nanother CAL Airbus 300-600 which crashed at Japan's Nagoya
\nairport, killing 264 people.<\/p>\n
The television simulations show CAL Flight 676 on final
\napproach veering off center, and then suddenly losing altitude
\nwith the plane's tail hitting the ground hard and its forward
\nmomentum slamming it into the houses.<\/p>",
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