TransAsia Airways plane forced to land on one engine

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TransAsia Airways plane forced to land on one engine months after another of its aircraft crashed on same island in Taiwan

PUBLISHED : Tuesday, 08 September, 2015, 1:50pm
UPDATED : Tuesday, 08 September, 2015, 4:40pm

Mimi Lau in Guangzhou

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Archive picture taken moments before a TransAsia flight crashed into a river in Taipei in February. Photo: SCMP Pictures

A TransAsia Airways flight had to land with only one of its two engines on an island off the coast of Taiwan on Tuesday just over a year after another of the carrier’s planes crashed near its airport, killing 48 people.

A TransAsia plane also crashed into a river in Taipei in February, killing 43 passengers and crew.

The flight from Taipei to Magong airport on Penghu island developed a problem in its second engine after take-off at 7.55am on Tuesday and had to be shut down, the airline said in a statement.

The flight landed safely on one engine just before 9am, the statement added.

Twenty-two passengers were on board the aircraft, according to a TV report in Taiwan.

They were told of the engine problem and urged to remain calm, the report said.

Two of the airlines’ later flights from Kaohsiung to Magong were cancelled after the incident was reported to Taiwan’s aviation authority.

Pilots followed standard procedure to shut down the engine and land, the airline said.

The faulty engine had developed an oil leak, the China News Service reported, citing Taiwan's civil aviation authority.

Rescue workers sift through debris at the scene of last year's crash on Penghu island. Photo: EPA

The plane was eight-years-old and it was the first time such a problem had been reported with the aircraft, the report said.

The TransAsia aircraft that crashed on Penghu island in July last year had flown from Kaohsuing and it tried to land during a heavy storm.

Ten people survived the crash.

The airline’s plane that crashed into the Keelung River in Taipei in February had also developed engine problems, shortly after take-off, and accident investigators said the crew then shut down the other engine by mistake.

All of the planes involved in the three incidents were ATR 72 aircraft.