Singapore Airlines Jet Turned on to Wrong Runway, Prosecutor Says An unidentified relative of a victim of the Singapore Airways crash cries as he views the wreckage of the Singapore Airways SQ006 on the runway of Chiang Kai Shek International Airport in Taipei. The Singapore Airlines jumbo jet that crashed in Taiwan tried to take off from the wrong runway, a Taiwanese prosecutor said Thursday.
Investigators believe a wrong turn by the pilot led to disaster.
The crash killed at least 81 of the 179 people on board. In the most specific account of what happened during the crash to date, prosecutor Soong Kuo-yeh said the plane slammed into construction equipment being used to repair the strip where most of the debris from the plane was found. Kay Yong, Taiwan's Aviation Safety Council managing director said today that the jumbo jet's pilot knew that he was on the wrong runway when he started to take off. When he realized at the last moment he was on a strip closed for repairs, he tried to lift off, but instead plowed into construction equipment. The official probe has not arrived at any conclusions but has concluded the bulk of the wreckage ended up on the closed runway that ran parallel to the one the plane was supposed to use.