On August 6, 2022, an Ikarus C42B ultra-light vehicle of the Chinese Taipei Aviation League, with control number AL2816, took off from Jiehao activity field, Gaoshu Township, Pingtung County at 1710L. There were one operator and one occupant aboard. At about 1744L, it crashed on the sandbank of Ailiao River between Gaoshu Bridge and Nanhua Bridge. It burst into fire and the two people on board sustained fatal injuries.

According to the Transportation Occurrence Investigation Act, and the content of Annex 13 to the Convention on International Civil Aviation, the Taiwan Transportation Safety Board (TTSB), an independent transportation occurrence investigation agency, was responsible for conducting the investigation. The investigation team is composed of members from Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA) and Chinese Taipei Aviation League. This final report was reviewed and approved by the 53rd TTSB Board Committee Meeting on August 18, 2023.

Conclusion:

1. The take-off location is a legal activity field, but part of the airspace during the said maneuver used was not compliance to the published maneuver area. Due to insufficient tracking information, the probable cause of the occurrence cannot be determined.
2. The operator was flying at a low altitude before the occurrence. If the vehicle encounters mechanical problems or emergencies during such flight, the reaction time will be marginal, leads to the safety margin to be insufficient, and there will be a considerable degrees of risk.
3. The air-ground radio communication system in this case is a passive monitoring mechanism. Ground controllers can obtain the vehicle position only by verbal report from the operator, and the ground controller cannot confirm the reported position information of its correctness using this sole air-ground radio communication.

Transportation Safety recommendation

Arising from the conclusions of the investigation, the following safety recommendations are issued to relevant organizations.

To Chinese Taipei Aviation League

1. Promote and instruct members to operate vehicles at an appropriate altitude within the approved airspace, based on the performance of the vehicle, and maneuver with vigilance to the environment to maintain flight safety.

To Civil Aeronautics Administration, Taiwan

1. Supervise Chinese Taipei Aviation League and other activity associations to promote and instruct members to operate vehicles at an appropriate altitude within the approved airspace, based on the performance of the vehicle, and maneuver with vigilance to the environment to maintain flight safety.
2. Regarding the suitability of establishing remote identification devices as a real-time positioning and reporting mechanism for ultra-light vehicles, TTSB has issued a recommendation (TTSB-ASR-21-12-005) in the AJ2199 occurrence investigation report, and will not re-issue in this case.

Full Final Report in Chinese is available for download at https://www.ttsb.gov.tw

Vivi Yang, Secretariat Office

Tel: +886-2-7727-6217

Email: viviy2314@ttsb.gov.tw

Kuo-Chih Chang, Investigator

Aviation Occurrence Investigation Division

Tel: +886-2-7727-6310

E-mail: kcchang@ttsb.gov.tw