The strip 05R is parallel to the main airport runway, 05L.
The pilot said there had been complaints that the runways and taxiways were not adequately differentiated. Now this is one of the issues we are still looking into: whether the edge lights were indeed on or off at the time of the accident."Ī Western pilot who spoke on condition of anonymity said that for at least nine years, since the construction of a large parking apron for cargo planes at one end of 05R, as well as an adjacent cargo terminal, pilots had been warning that its continued lighting and marking as a runway made the taxiway a potential hazard.Īn Australian pilot, who also requested anonymity, confirmed that there had been complaints about the marking and lighting at the airport. "During the time it was being used for taxiing purposes, the edge lights would generally be off. "If it was used as a runway, then the edge lights would be turned on," he said. But he added that it was not clear whether the edge lights on the strip were on when the Singapore Airlines 747, bound for Los Angeles, tried to take off as a typhoon approached. Yong said that pilots using the airport at the time of the crash had been warned that part of O5R was closed for construction. In an interview Monday, he said that for many years the strip had been used mainly as a taxiway, although it had also been used occasionally as a runway "during the daytime when the visibility is good" and for emergency military operations. Yong Kay, head of Taiwan's Aviation Safety Council, which is leading the official investigation into the crash, said the inquiry was looking into whether pilots had in fact been complaining for years. The pilots' complaints, the aeronautical advisory and other information released by investigators seem to point to a combination of human error, bad weather, lax airport and aviation safety standards, and confusing information about the status of the airstrip as causes of the crash. 27 and were in worldwide use at the time of the accident. He said that as a result of the notice, new taxiway charts showing the change in the status of the strip, labeled 05R, were issued Oct. 1, which as it happened was just hours after the crash.Ī copy of the notice - known as an Aeronautical Information Publication Supplement - was made available to the International Herald Tribune by a Western pilot. 3 by Taiwan's Civil Aeronautics Administration shows that the airstrip, which had been used as a runway, was to be redesignated on navigation charts as a taxiway starting Nov. SINGAPORE- For years pilots flying into Taiwan had complained about lighting and markings on the airstrip at Chaing Kai Shek Airport where a Singapore Airways jumbo jet crashed a week ago, killing or injuring all but 40 of the 179 people on board, according to two pilots familiar with the airport.įurthermore, a notice issued Oct.
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