TransAsia pilots failed to see runway before crash: Report

The pilots of a TransAsia Airways flight could not see the runway before the plane crashed July 23 in Taiwan's outlying Penghu islands killing 48 people, the aviation safety authority said Friday.

Flight GE222 carrying 54 passengers and four crew deviated four degrees from its course as it attempted to land in a rainstorm, Xinhua reported citing an initial report released by Taiwan's aviation safety council.

The flight was given a green light to land at 7:03 p.m. and began to shift from auto-pilot to manual operation at 7:05:44 p.m., according to the black box recording transcript released by the council.

"Have you seen the runway?" the captain asked at around 7:05:58 p.m.

"No,"the copilot answered.

At 7:06:11 p.m., both pilots asked to "go around," with the cockpit recording an unidentified sound two seconds later.

At 7:06:16 p.m., the copilot said "go around, go around." The black box recording ended about three seconds later.

The report is a factual account and does not draw any conclusion about the crash, said the council, adding a final investigation report will be published in October 2015.