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By Bloomberg

The TransAsia Airways Corp. plane that crashed in Taipei went into emergency mode 37 seconds after takeoff, investigators said.

The pilots discussed engine flameout 35 seconds before their “Mayday” distress call to the ground, Taiwan’s Aviation Safety Council Manging Director Thomas Wang said in Taipei today, releasing the preliminary investigation report after listening to the black box. The engines of the turboprop aircraft were “intact” when investigators recovered them, he said.

Thirty five people of the 58 on board the turbopropeller plane died as the ATR72 narrowly missed apartment buildings and hit an elevated highway before crashing into the Keelung River in Taipei Feb. 4. One of the pilots called “Mayday, mayday, engine flameout,” two minutes after a female controller cleared Flight 235 to take off, according to an archived recording on LiveATC.net.

Some people remained unaccounted for two days after the fatal accident, prompting rescuers to widen their search to more than 30 kilometers of riverways. More than 2,200 personnel are searching rivers in Taipei after the turbopropeller plane slammed into the waters.

Both the pilot Liao Jian-zong and co-pilot Liu Zi-zhong of the twin-engine plane died in the accident, according to the Civil Aeronautics Administration website. The aircraft was less than a year old.

No Response

Though the controller responded immediately after the Mayday call, nothing further could be heard from the pilots, according to the recording. LiveATC.net is a website supported by users and advertising, relying on volunteers to post air- traffic control audio transmissions.

The accident is the second for the Taipei-based carrier in less than a year after a similar aircraft type went off course and hit houses on the outlying Penghu islands.

Pilot Liao had 4,914 hours of flying experience and his co- pilot 6,922 hours, TransAsia said in a Feb. 4 statement. Besides the two, there was an observer on board - Hong Bing-zhong with 16,121 hours of experience.

Flight 235 took off from Songshan Airport in downtown Taipei for an hour-long flight to the island of Kinmen off mainland China. Footage taken from a dashboard-mounted camera in a car showed the plane’s wings tilted at a steep angle as it swerved over an elevated highway, with one tip clipping a taxi and the railing before plunging into the Keelung River. Two people in the taxi suffered injuries, the city government said.