China Airlines Flight 611

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China Airlines Flight 611 Disaster

CG render of B-18255
Summary
Date 25 May 2002
Type In-flight structural failure, Explosive decompression
Site Taiwan Strait
Passengers 206
Crew 19
Injuries 0
Fatalities 225
Survivors 0
Aircraft type Boeing 747-200B
Operator China Airlines
Tail number B-18255
Flight origin Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport
Destination Hong Kong International Airport

China Airlines Flight 611 Callsign: Dynasty 611 (CAL611, CI611) was a 747 on a regularly scheduled flight from Chiang Kai Shek International Airport (now, Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport) in Taoyuan to Chek Lap Kok International Airport in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China. While in flight the aircraft broke into pieces in mid-air and crashed, killing all aboard on May 25, 2002.

CNN referred to the crash as the "Taiwan Tragedy".[1]

Contents

[edit] Flight and disaster

On May 25, the flight took off at 2:50 p.m. local time for the 1 hour 20 minute flight to Hong Kong.

About 25 minutes after takeoff[2], the aircraft disappeared from radar screens, suggesting it had experienced an in-flight breakup at FL350 (approximately 35,000 feet, or 7 miles), near the Pescadore Islands (Penghu) in the Taiwan Strait. All 19 crew members and 206 passengers died. 114 of the passengers were members of a group tour to Hong Kong or PRC China organized by five travel agencies. The plane was expected to arrive at 4:28 p.m.

[edit] Nationalities of the Passengers

[3]

Nationality Passengers Crew Total
Flag of the People's Republic of China People's Republic of China 9 0 9
Flag of Hong Kong Hong Kong 5 0 5
Flag of Singapore Singapore 1 0 1
Flag of Switzerland Switzerland 1 0 1
Flag of the Republic of China Taiwan (ROC) 190 19 209
Total 206 19 225

The People's Republic of China figure includes 9 residents of Mainland China and 5 residents of Flag of Hong Kong Hong Kong. [4][5][6][7]

All of the passengers on board were Chinese except the passenger from Switzerland.[2]

[edit] Other passenger attributes

The seat-plan of B-18255:      Empty seat      Victim not recovered      Victim recovered      Galley      Storage      Toilet      Stairs
The seat-plan of B-18255:      Empty seat      Victim not recovered      Victim recovered      Galley      Storage      Toilet      Stairs

The Taiwanese government kept statistics of the passengers who were recovered.

The remains of 175 of the 206 passengers aboard were recovered and identified. [8] The first 82 bodies, those of 76 passengers and 6 cabin crew, were found floating on the surface of the ocean, and were recovered by fishing vessels, the Coast Guard, and military vessels.

Three flight crew members were autopsied. Authorities placed ten bodies and some human remains in an X-ray.

Most of the recovered passengers in the rear of the jet (Zones D through E) were found naked, since their clothes were torn off due to the forces of the decompression. [8] [9] Most of the recovered passengers in the front of the jet (Zones A through C) were found clothed.

Of the recovered passengers [8]:

  • 66 were fully clothed
  • 25 were partially clothed
  • 50 were completely naked

Two of the fully clothed passengers were travelling with infants in their laps; the clothing situation of the infants was not stated.

Some passengers were found floating, while some remained strapped in their seats.

Of the recovered passengers [8]:

  • 54 did not float and were not seated
  • 7 did not float and were still seated
  • 81 floated and did not decompose (1 held an infant; the infant's condition is not stated)
  • 25 floated and decomposed (1 held an infant; the infant's condition is not stated)

92% of the passengers initially found floating on the ocean surface had assigned seats located in and between Rows 42 and 57 (Zone E).

Some passengers had injuries predominately on one side per body. Of these passengers [8]:

  • 10 sustained injuries predominately on their left side (1 held an infant; the infant's condition is not stated)
  • 10 sustained injuries predominately on their right side

51 sustained tibia and/or fibula bone fractures. [8]

Some passengers sustained back and/or hand abrasions. Of them [8]:

  • 27 sustained hand abrasions (only)
  • 10 sustained back abrasions (only)
  • 16 sustained back and hand abrasions

[edit] Search, recovery and investigation

At 5:05 p.m., a military C130 aircraft spotted a crashed airliner 20 nautical miles (37 km) northeast of Makung. Oil slicks were also spotted at 5:05 p.m. The first body was found at 6:10 p.m.

Searchers recovered 15% of the wreckage, including part of the cockpit, and found no signs of burns, explosives or gunshots.

There was no distress signal or communication sent out prior to the crash.[10] Radar data suggests that the aircraft broke into four pieces while at FL350. This theory is supported by the fact that articles which would have been found inside the aircraft (magazines, etc.) were found up to 80 miles (129 km) from the crash site. The weather and climate were normal. The Cockpit voice recorder showed that the pilot did not detect any anomaly and was humming the famous oldie tune "When Will You Return?" by Teresa Teng.

The flight data recorder from Flight 611 shows that the plane began gaining altitude at a significantly faster rate in the 27 seconds before the plane broke apart, although the extra gain in altitude was well within the plane's design limits. The plane was supposed to be leveling off then as it approached its cruising altitude of 35,000 feet. Shortly before the breakup, one of the aircraft's four engines began providing slightly less thrust. Coincidentally, the engine was the only one recovered from the sea floor. Pieces of the aircraft were found in the ocean and on Taiwan, including in the city of Changhua [11] [12].

The Republic of China (Taiwan) and the People's Republic of China co-operated in the recovery of the aircraft; the People's Republic of China allowing personnel from Taiwan to search for bodies and aircraft fragments in those Taiwan Strait waters controlled by the People's Republic of China. [13][2] The United Daily News stated that some relatives of passengers described the existence of this flight to Hong Kong as being "unnecessary". They said this because most of the passengers intended to arrive in Mainland China but due to the lack of direct air links between Taiwan and Mainland China the travellers had to fly via Hong Kong; the relatives advocated the opening of direct air links between Taiwan and Mainland China.[13]

[edit] Metal fatigue

The final investigation report found that the accident was the result of metal fatigue due to inadequate maintenance after a previous incident. The report finds that on February 7, 1980, the accident aircraft suffered damage from a tailstrike accident in Hong Kong. The aircraft was then ferried back to Taiwan on the same day de-pressurized, and a temporary repair done the day after. A permanent repair was conducted from May 23 till May 26, 1980. The permanent repair of the tail strike was not carried out in accordance with the Boeing SRM, in that the area of damaged skin in Section 46 was not removed (trimmed) and the repair doubler did not extend beyond the entire damaged area enough to restore the overall structural strength. Consequently, after repeated cycles of depressurization and pressurization during flight, the weakened hull gradually started to crack and finally broke open in mid-flight on May 25 2002, exactly 22 years after the faulty repair was made upon the damaged tail. An explosive decompression of the aircraft occurred once the crack opened up, causing the complete disintegration of the aircraft in mid-air.

China Airlines disputed much of the report, stating that investigators did not find the pieces of the aircraft that would prove the contents of the investigation report. [14]

[edit] Flight Number

Flight 611 no longer exists. Shortly after the accident, China Airlines changed the flight number to 619, which now serves the Taipei - Hong Kong route along with existing flights 601, 603, 605, 607, 609, 613, 615, 617, and 803.

[edit] The Aircraft

The aircraft B-18255 (originally registered as B-1866) involved, MSN 21843, was the only Boeing 747-200 passenger aircraft left in the China Airlines fleet at the time. It was delivered to the airline in 1979 and had logged 64,810 hours of flight time. Prior to the crash China Airlines had sold B-18255 to Orient Thai Airlines for US$1.45 million. The accident flight was the aircraft's penultimate flight for China Airlines as it was scheduled to be delivered to Orient Thai Airlines after its return flight from Hong Kong to Taipei. The contract to sell the aircraft was voided after the crash.[15]

The remaining four 747-200 freighters in China Airlines fleet were grounded immediately by Taiwan's Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) after the crash. The airline returned the jets to service a few days later after maintenance checks.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ "China Airlines safety record in the spotlight," CNN
  2. ^ a b c "Catastrophic failure, but how?," Times of India
  3. ^ "CAL 747 crashes with 225 aboard," Taipei Times
  4. ^ "Search continues after 747 crashes in Taiwan Strait," CBC
  5. ^ "Crashed China Airlines Plane Over 22 Years Old," People's Daily
  6. ^ "No distress signal before Taiwan crash," CNN
  7. ^ "Hope Fades in Taiwan Crash Search," BBC
  8. ^ a b c d e f g "[1]," Aviation Safety Council
  9. ^ "Decay Under Patches Might Have Caused China Airlines Crash," Air Safety Week, June 30, 2003
  10. ^ "China missile ruled out in Taiwan crash," CNN - Version with full pictures: [2]
  11. ^ "Changhua," BBC
  12. ^ "225 die in China Airlines crash," The Independent
  13. ^ a b "Crash brings Taiwan, China together," CNN
  14. ^ "China Airlines Statement on CI 611 Accident Investigation Report," China Airlines
  15. ^ "Catastrophic failure, but how?," The Times of India

[edit] External links

[edit] Official investigation reports

[edit] China Airlines

[edit] Media

[edit] Other

Coordinates: 23°59′23″N, 119°40′45″E