Plane Too High On Appproach

A China Airlines jet that crashed last week near Taipei airport, killing 202 people, was flying well above the standard altitude when it approached the runway, a newspaper reported Sunday.

Radar showed that when the Airbus A300-600R was about three miles from the airport, the jetliner was flying at 1,300 feet, much higher than the standard 900-feet approach, the China Times Express said.

The pilots attempted to descend quickly to correct the mistake, the paper said, quoting unidentified aviation sources.

No official reason for the plane’s crash has been given, but investigators say the plane veered sharply to the left as it came in to land. It then crashed into a semi-rural area beside the runway and exploded, killing all aboard and six people on the ground.