Among the plausible explanations of the cause of the crash is a failure in crew resource management ( CRM ) A steep trans-cockpit authority gradient may have meant that the First Officer did not challenge , intervene , or correct the Captain 's mistakes . This may have occurred due to skills comparison . Other aircraft crashes which have been partly explained by a steep trans-cockpit authority include Airblue Flight 202 and Merpati Nusantara Airlines Flight 8968 . In Flight 222 , First Officer Chiang did not challenge any of Captain Lee 's errors . He did not voice any concerns over the actions that Captain Lee took . It would have also increased the probability of Captain Lee making decisions without consulting the first officer . The aircraft 's impact with terrain was a direct consequence of the captain descending the aircraft below the published Minimum Descent Altitude for the runway 20 VOR approach procedure . Moreover , it was also as a result of poor planning by the crew . During the landing approach , the actions of the flight crew progressively increased the risk of a controlled flight into terrain ( CFIT ) . The crew seemed unaware that an impact with terrain was almost certain until the final two seconds
Merpati Nusantara Airlines Flight 8968
Merpati Nusantara Airlines Flight 8968
TransAsia Airways Flight 222