On Wednesday, February fourth, an airplane from TransAsia airlines crashed into a river in Taiwan. This misfortune resulted in thirty-eight innocent deaths, five missing persons, and fif­teen survivors with injuries, so far. This incident has brought attention not only to the passengers of the plane, but also to the pilots’ actions.

A 72-year old survivor, Huang Jin-Sun said that something did not feel right in the plane within a short time span of less than 4 minutes. Additionally, as some passengers were drown­ing after the plane crashed, he made an effort to help them. If it were not for his aid, several of the passengers would have been soon dead.

The pilots’ last few actions before landing in the water saved many others from getting seriously injured. TransAsia is one of the larg­est airlines in Taiwan. Therefore, the pilot was extremely experienced, having flown over 4,900 hours throughout the years. Pilot Liao Chien-tsung, the head pilot in this accident, made a few sharp turns to avoid tall buildings and major infrastructure as the plane suddenly dropped. He purposely landed in a shallow river so that survivors could climb out the airplane. However, unfortunately, most of the passengers had difficulty escaping from the plane be­cause they had their seat belts buckled, in addition to loads of suitcases blocking them. Despite these challenges, many people praise pilot Liao Chien-tsung as a hero who did his best to minimize the dam­age to the rest of the surrounding city.

People who lost their lives and brave passen­gers who tried to help others in such an urgent situation are to be remembered by families and loved ones. Moreover, the courageous pilots who flew the plane should truly be remembered as well. In particular, I was very astonished by pilot Liao Chien-tsung’s bold moves as he quickly decided to land in the river. It is very evident that his ability to make such a tough de­cision within a few seconds reflects how much experience and how great of a skillset he pos­sesses. I surely want to respect his mindset of doing his hardest to land safely even in the face of an imminent accident.