And also the JAL 747 that suffered an explosive decompression and fatal crash in Japan. That one had a repair done to a damanged pressure bulkhead following a tail strike. In that case the repair was faulty. Mike Gammon > > From: Gerard M Foley <gfoley@columbus.rr.com> > Date: 2002/08/08 Thu AM 09:56:09 EDT > To: AIRLINE@LISTSERV.CUNY.EDU > Subject: China Airlines B747 Flight 611 > > The following story details findings of fatigue cracks in rear fuselage of > this aircraft: > > http://www.aviationnow.com/avnow/news/channel_awst.jsp?view=story&id=news/aw > 080541.xml > > (URL may wrap) > > To me this is very persuasive as to the probable cause of the breakup of > this plane. > > It seems to argue for very careful inspection of the fuselage of aircraft of > this age and service, particularly those which have ever suffered damage. > This one had a tail strike in 1980 which required reinforcement of the skin. > > It is unhappily reminiscent of the failure of the AA A300 at JFK. In the > latter case the aircraft had suffered damage many years before the > catastrophic failure. > > Gerry > http://home.columbus.rr.com > http://www.fortunecity.com/victorian/pollock/263/egypt/egypt.html >