TAIPEI, taiwan — One of the two engines on TransAsia Airways Flight 235 went idle 37 seconds after takeoff, and the pilots apparently shut off the other before making a futile attempt to restart it, Taiwan’s top aviation safety official said Friday.
It was unclear why the second engine was shut down because the plane was capable of flying with one engine.
Taiwan’s official news agency said investigators were looking into the possibility of “professional error.”
The crash Wednesday into a river in Taipei minutes after takeoff killed at least 35 people and left eight missing.
Fifteen people were rescued after the accident.
There would be no reason to have shut down the good engine, experts said.
“There are procedures that pilots go through — safeguards — when you’re going to shut down an engine, particularly close to the ground,” said John M. Cox, a former US Airways pilot and now head of a safety-consulting company. “Why that didn’t occur here, I don’t know.”
