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
Airblue Flight 202
Airblue Flight 202
TransAsia Airways Flight 222