TransAsia probed for breach of new safety rules

Taipei

TAIWAN aviation officials are examining whether pilots of a TransAsia Airways Corp's turboprop that crashed on Wednesday breached new regulations aimed at forcing them to take more time to conduct pre-flight checks.

Authorities are probing if pilots met the minimum transit time requirements introduced last month that apply specifically to TransAsia and its fleet of ATR 72 aircraft following a fatal crash on Taiwan's Penghu islands in July, Clark Lin, director of flight standards at the Civil Aeronautics Administration, said. Pilots must spend no less than the mandated time at the gate to meet the new rule, he said.