China Airlines 747-200 crashes

[Guest]

A China Airlines 747 crashed after takeoff from Taipei.

 

 

 

This latest mishap doesn't enhance their reputation for safety.

 

 

 

PENGU, TAIWAN (Reuters) - A China Airlines Boeing 747-200 with 225 passengers and crew on board has crashed into the sea shortly after takeoff en route from Taiwan to Hong Kong.

 

 

 

 

 

Military search and rescue teams picked up the body of a man off the Taiwan-held Penghu islands, also known as the Pescadores, and spotted a cabin door, life vests and an oil slick.

 

 

 

 

 

Cable television station ETTV said large numbers of bodies were floating in the sea.

 

 

 

 

 

An official with China Airlines, Taiwan's main carrier, said the plane did not issue a Mayday call before it disappeared from radar screens about 20 minutes after takeoff on Saturday.

 

 

 

 

 

There was no official word on what might have caused the crash, and Vice Transport Minister Chang Chia-juk said there was no evidence of a midair blast. "We did not find an explosion in the air," Chang told reporters.

 

 

 

 

 

However, cable network TVBS reported that a group of farmers in western Taiwan found debris with China Airlines' logo in their fields on Saturday.

 

 

 

 

 

TVBS showed footage of farmers in the coastal county of Changhua -- about 75 km (47 miles) from the crash site -- holding up scraps of foam padding and inflight magazines.

 

 

 

 

 

"I heard a big bang," a fisherman identified only by the name Lee told ETTC cable television.

 

 

 

 

 

"I thought it was mainland fishermen dynamiting fish."

 

 

 

 

 

Dynamite is used illegally off the coast of Taiwan to stun fish and make them easy to catch as they float to the surface.

 

 

 

 

 

As night fell, naval ships with powerful searchlights joined the search for survivors.

 

 

 

 

 

The weather bureau reported cloud in the area but no rain at the time of the accident.

 

 

 

 

 

"Because it's at sea, we can't determine (what happened) before finding anything concrete. But basically, we have found some life vests floating at sea," Premier Yu Shyi-kun told reporters.

 

 

 

 

 

China Airlines said Flight CI 611 was carrying 206 passengers, including three infants, and 19 crew. The plane was almost 23 years old, one of the oldest in the fleet, and had logged almost 65,000 flight hours.

 

 

 

 

 

EMERGENCY CABINET TEAM

 

 

 

 

 

Cabinet spokesman Chuang Suo-han said the cabinet had formed an emergency team to deal with the situation."

 

 

 

 

 

The plane took off at 3.08 p.m. (0708 GMT). Flying time from Taiwan to Hong Kong is one and a half hours.

 

 

 

 

 

"The plane abruptly disappeared from the radar," transportation minister Lin Lin-san told reporters.

 

 

 

 

 

Fourteen passengers were from Hong Kong, Macau and China. There were two Singaporeans and one European on board, airline officials said.

 

 

 

 

 

In the last major crash in Taiwan in October 2000, a Singapore Airlines plane crashed at Taipei airport killing 83 of 179 people on board.

 

 

 

 

 

China Airlines was taken over by its first woman chief executive officer in 2000 to shed an appalling image after three deadly accidents in six years.

 

 

 

 

 

A China Airlines MD 11 crashed on landing in Hong Kong in September 1999 and all but three of the 315 passengers and crew survived. More than 200 were injured.

 

 

 

 

 

In February 1998, a China Airlines Airbus carrying holidaymakers back from Bali crashed and disintegrated at Taipei airport, killing 196 aboard and seven on the ground.

 

 

 

 

 

That disaster followed an April 1994 crash in Nagoya, Japan, when a China Airlines Airbus A300-600R stalled during landing. Only seven of the 271 passengers and crew survived.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[iuytrede]

"The plane was almost 23 years old, one of the oldest in the fleet"

 

 

 

this would have been the last flight of this plane for China Airlines anyway. The plane had already been sold to THAI.

[sfinkz]

The report I saw indicated it had been sold, and to be delivered in four weeks, to Orient Thai, described as a charter airline but at one time serving the domestic market until forced out by the government to protect THAI and then becoming a regional carrier (to Singapore and Cambodia). I suppose its possible they were caught holding the pink (title).

[jp1]

The plane had already been sold to THAI

 

 

 

Lucky Thai Airways. If this was a mechanical failure then it was bad work because this plane was completely overhauled less than a year ago.

[gobbledonk]

Dude,

 

 

 

It seems that CA are a Taiwanese airline - had me worried when I thought I may board one of their flights during my travels throughout Southern China in October. I may just take the trains ....

[HSTEACH]

Does anyone know what was the last production date of 747-200s? I fly 200s from the US to Asia on Northwest and have wondered how old these old birds are. I'd guess at least 20+ years old.

[Guest]

Post deleted by DoxyBlue

[aircrest]

Last delivery of 747-200 was 1990 to the United States Air Force. Believe that was the aircraft used for the President. First delivery of the 747-400 was 1989 to Northwest. First delivery of the 747-100 was in 1968

[Guest]

DB,

 

 

 

you are the real master of links!

[stumpy]

What a terrible tragedy...

 

 

 

CA is my airline of choice and I currently hold a Gold Card with them and have my flight held off for June for my trip to Thailand.

 

 

 

CA's safety record though has always concerned me and given the recent take off on the wrong runway and now this disaster I may fly KLM instead.

 

 

 

China Airlines have now had 700 fatalities in the last 10 years.