Taiwan's Aviation Safety Council (ASC) released a detailed report on Friday about the TransAsia flight that crashed on July 2014. 

The TransAsia Airways Flight 222 departed from Kaohsiung Airport on July 23, 2014, and was supposed to land at the Magong Airport in Penghu, Taiwan. There were 58 people on the plane - 54 passengers and four crew members. 

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The force of impact and a post-impact fire is reported to have destroyed the plane. 

The investigation found out that the crew of four aboard the plane broke many standard operating procedures (SOP), causing the death of 48 people and injuring many others as the aircraft crash landed into a residential area near Magong Airport. Only 10 people survived. 

"The crew's recurring non-compliance with SOPs constituted an operating culture in which high-risk practices were routine and considered normal," the report said.

The report said that the captain flew the aircraft below the safe minimum descent altitude (MDA) even though they are not aware of the runway environment because of the weather. There was a thunderstorm at the time, bringing visibility issues and changes in wind direction and speed.   

"The captain was likely overconfident in his flying skills. That might lead to his decision to continue the approach below the minimum descent altitude without an appreciation of the safety risks associated with that decision," the report notes.

Meanwhile, the first officer did not question the captain's action and even "collaborated with the captain's intentional descent below the MDA." Analysis revealed that the captain's performance was probably affected by his fatigue from the multiple flights and duty time in the previous months. 

"The aircraft's hazardous flight path was not detected and corrected by the crew in due time to avoid the collision with the terrain, suggesting that the crew lost situational awareness about the aircraft's position during the latter stages of the approach," the report said.

The report noted that the crew failed to recognize the need for a new approach until the plane was so low that that collision with the terrain was unavoidable.

None of the flight crew recognized the need for a missed approach until the aircraft reached the point (72 feet, 0.5 nautical mile beyond the missed approach point) where collision with the terrain became unavoidable. 

TagsTransAsia flight 222, TransAsia Airways, Taiwan plane crash, Aviation Safety Council