Many years ago I went to Taiwan, at the time they were desperately trying to modernise Taipei and they decide to ban rickshaws. As there were a lot of people who made a living pulling rickshaws, the government decided to compensate them by giving them a taxi. Unfortunately, they were just given a taxi and a license, but no driving lessons. The driver would simply pick a gear(he didn't care which one, as long as it moved) and he'd stick with it and point it in whatever direction he wanted to go. I was unaware of this, until I arrived at the airport and hopped in a cab, my driver picked second gear and squealed his way along the twenty odd miles to the hotel, hitting two other taxis and knocking someone off a scooter on the way. I saw at least twenty taxi crashes on that trip and I was only there three days, nobody stopped, nobody seemed to think it was a big deal(they were all just bumps, nothing horrific), it really was bizarre.
No idea, none of the taxis in Asia are automatics, everywhere you go they have Toyota's with a stick shift on the steering wheel.
They're just released a recording of the pilot's final words, 'mayday, mayday, engine flameout' (which apparently means there's no spark in the engine and it's stopped).
