Three China Airlines pilots were grounded after they took off in the wrong direction during a Friday flight from anchorage to Taipei, a media report said. The China Airlines flight - carrying about 250 passengers and crew - mistakenly accelerated down a taxiway instead of a runway and grazed a snow berm during liftoff, air safety officials in Alaska said. The plane's three pilots have been grounded pending investigations into the mishap, the semiofficial central news agency quoted China Airlines chairman Lee Yun-Ling as saying. “This was a procedural flight terror, but what caused the error is still unknown. We must await investigations before making any conclusions,” Lee was quoted as saying. The three pilots will be grounded according to company policy. China Airlines officials were unavailable for comment.
The national transportation safety board in the US is trying to figure out just what went wrong. The plane was directed to take off on a northbound runway at Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airportand, but went down a Westbound taxiway instead.
Bureau Report