The statement by Kay Yong, Taiwan's Aviation Safety Council managing director, implied that pilot error played a major role in the crash of the Boeing 747-400, which led to the death of 81 people.

The closed runway, number 05R, runs parallel to the one from which the plane should have taken off, 05L.

Runways which are closed are normally not lit up to make it clear they are not in use. But this is not the case at Chiang Kai-shek airport, where a single switch controls green lights on the common taxiway to both runways and down the middle of 05R.

Civil Aeronautics Administration Deputy Director Chang Kuo-cheng said the 05L runway was fully lit on Tuesday night by white/yellow lights and only the central green lights were on on the parallel runway.

On the taxiway to the runways, four large signs point the way to 05L, he added. But he refused to state explicitly that pilot error was the primary cause of the mix-up.

Runway 05R was not blocked off by barriers because part of the strip was used by landing planes to taxi back to the terminal.

Sketch of debris layout >>