Taiwan's Aviation Safety Council (ASC) press release on the SQ006 Accident Report
26/4/2002

Findings related to probable cause

At the time of the accident, heavy rain and strong winds from typhoon “Xangsane” prevailed. The moderate time pressure to take off before the inbound typhoon closed in around CKS Airport, and the condition of taking off in a strong crosswind, low visibility, slippery runway subtly influenced the flight crew’s decision-making ability and the ability to maintain situational awareness. The flight crew of SQ006 was aware of the fact that a portion of Runway 05R was closed, and that Runway 05R was only available for taxi.

The flight crew had CKS Airport charts available when taxing from the parking bay to the departure runway; however, when the aircraft was turning from Taxiway NP to Taxiway N1 and continued turning onto Runway 05R, the flight crew did not review the taxi route in a manner sufficient to ensure they all understood that the route to Runway 05L, which included the need for the aircraft to pass Runway 05R, before taxiing onto Runway 05L. None of the flight crewmembers verified the taxi route. None of the flight crewmembers confirmed orally which runway they had entered. The aircraft did not completely pass the Runway 05R threshold marking area and continue to taxi towards Runway 05L for the scheduled takeoff, instead, it entered Runway 05R and CM-1 commenced the takeoff roll. CM-2 and CM-3 did not question CM-1’s decision to take off, CM-1’s expectation that he was approaching the departure runway coupled with the saliency of the lights leading onto Runway 05R resulted in CM-1 allocating most of his attention to these centerline lights. CM-1 followed the green taxiway centerline lights and taxied onto Runway 05R..

The flight crew did not make full usage of the following information available to them: CKS Airport navigation chart, aircraft heading references, Runway and Taxiway signage and marking, Taxiway N1 centerline lights leading to Runway 05L, color of the centerline lights (green) on Runway 05R, Runway 05R edge lights most likely not on, width difference between Runway 05L and Runway 05R, lighting configuration differences between Runway 05L and Runway 05R,Para-Visual Display (PVD) showing aircraft not properly aligned with the Runway 05L localizer ,Primary Flight Display (PFD) information, therefore, the flight crew lost situational awareness and commenced takeoff from the wrong runway.

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