Several TransAsia pilots suspended for failing 'safety tests' post fatal crash in Taipei

At least 29 pilots working for Taiwanese airline TransAsia have been suspended after they failed to pass or missed safety tests ordered by the civil aviation authority a week after a TransAsia Airways flight, with more than 50 people onboard, crashed into a river near the capital Taipei.

Out of 68 pilots, 10 failed to pass oral proficiency tests devised to test their responses in case of an emergency while 19 missed the test due to sickness or travel, reported the BBC.

Those who missed have been suspended until they take the test.

Terming the results "unacceptable," the airline promised that it would improve the training of its pilots.

The domestic flight ATR-72, carrying 53 passengers and five crew members, had just taken off from Taipei Songshan Airport and was headed to the outlying Kinmen islands, just off the coast of south-east China when it lost contact with flight controllers and crashed into Keelung River near the city's downtown Sungshan airport.

Officials claimed that the left engine of the twin-engine plane was shut down "manually" by the crew after the right one "flamed out.