AIRLINE:
Here is a recent story. It does seem very odd that an aircraft should
fail in this way. --- Mike Burris
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-----------------------------------------------------------------------2002)
Taiwan Jet Broke in Sky Before Crash
Sun May 26,10:10 AM ET
By WILLIAM IDE, Associated Press Writer
PENGHU, Taiwan (AP) - The China Airlines jet that crashed Saturday
with 225 people aboard broke up into four parts in the sky before
plunging into the Taiwan Strait, the chief Taiwanese crash
investigator said Sunday. No survivors have been found.
Military radar provided a clear picture of the Boeing 747-200
splitting into four pieces, said Kay Yong, managing director of
Taiwan's Aviation Safety Council. "There was an in-flight breakup
above the altitude of 30,000 feet. We are very positive about this,"
he said.
He did not say what might have caused the plane to break apart.
Taiwan's government on Sunday ordered China Airlines to ground four
Boeing 747-200 cargo planes in its fleet until inspections show they
are safe. The four jets are 13 to 22 years old.
The government also demanded that the airline, Taiwan's largest
carrier, step up inspections of its 46 passenger jets.
Rough seas slowed the search for bodies and debris from the plane. By
Sunday, 78 bodies were pulled from the shimmering water that reeked
of jet fuel.
Swells up to 10 feet high battered fishing boats and coast guard
ships scanning the crash site north of the Taiwanese island chain of
Penghu, about 30 miles off Taiwan's western coast.
Officials said they did not know what caused the crash of Flight
CI611, which went down Saturday afternoon about 20 minutes after
taking off from Taipei en route to Hong Kong. The crew did not send
distress signals before the plane disappeared from radar screens.
The transcript of the pilots' conversation with the control tower was
released Sunday and included no mention of any problem with the plane.
James L.S. Chang, a China Airlines vice president, declined to
speculate on the cause of the crash, but he said it was unusual.
"At such a high altitude, 35,000 feet, to have something go wrong -
and the pilot didn't even have time to send a distress signal. Now,
that's a big question mark," Chang said.
Near the crash site Sunday, the smell of fuel was thick in the air
and there was a rainbow-colored glimmer on the sea from an oily slick
as big as a football field.
Rescue officials said 78 bodies had been found. The passengers
included 190 Taiwanese, 14 people from Macau and Hong Kong, nine
Chinese citizens, one Singaporean and one Swiss citizen.
The Boeing 747-200 had been flying for 22 years, and China Airlines
was to remove it from its fleet next month and deliver it to the
small regional carrier Orient Thai Airline, which had already
purchased the aircraft, China Airlines said.
China Airlines said the plane was well-maintained and had been
completely overhauled last year.
Suspicions that an in-flight explosion caused the crash were fueled
by debris found in rice fields in Taiwan's west coast county of
Changhua, near the plane's flight path.
Farmers found scraps of airline magazines, immigration forms and
luggage claim stickers with "Flight CI611" printed on them. They also
found a China Airlines seat cover that appeared to be stained with
blood.
In Penghu, Chang Shing-yeu, the director of a coast guard helicopter
squadron, said pilots spotted the plane's cabin door, a wheel and
what appeared to be part of the belly.
More than 400 rescue workers, 22 coast guard boats and two
helicopters were searching for bodies and the plane, said Chang
Cheh-chin, deputy director of a Penghu-based coast guard unit.
He said pilots had seen "mostly flotsam, chairs and life preservers
that have floated to the surface."
Soldiers unloaded corpses in gray body bags from a large coast guard
vessel. Nearby, 40 rescue workers in red suits unpacked high-tech
search equipment, including remote-controlled underwater cameras.
Others laid out lines of thick rope for pulling up wreckage.
Troops were placing the debris, including seats and a sink from the
aircraft restroom, in a roped-off area.
After a series of crashes in the 1990s, China Airlines became known
for having one of the world's worst airline safety records - 12
deadly accidents since 1969.
The airline's last fatal crash was in 1999, when a jetliner flipped
over and burst into flames, killing three people during a crash
landing in Hong Kong.
In recent years, China Airlines has been aggressively retraining
pilots and revamping its safety procedures.
The company published a half-page ad in Taiwan's major
Chinese-language papers, apologizing for the crash in large, bold
Chinese characters.
The apology, signed by the company's chairman, Y.L. Lee, said: "We
want to express our deepest regrets to the victims' families and the
public. We will do our best to help the families to recover."