TAIPEI, Feb 6 (Reuters) – The pilot of a doomed TransAsia plane, hailed as a hero for his actions in the final moments before a crash that killed 31 people, was still holding the joystick in the plane’s cockpit when his body was found, media reported on Friday.
The pilot, identified by TransAsia as 42-year-old Liao Chien-tsung, has been praised by Taipei’s mayor for steering the plane between apartment blocks and commercial buildings before ditching the stalled aircraft in a river.
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The plane took off from Taipei’s downtown Songshan airport and was bound for the Taiwan island of Kinmen. Among those on board were 31 tourists from China, mainly from the southwestern city of Xiamen.
Taiwan’s aviation regulator has ordered TransAsia and Uni Air, a subsidiary of EVA Airways Corp 2618.TW, to conduct engine and fuel system checks on the remaining 22 ATR aircraft they still operate. (Reporting by Faith Hung; Editing by Paul Tait and Robert Birsel)
