China Airlines Flight 642
| China Airlines Flight 642 | |
|---|---|
 The accident machine B-150 |
|
| Accident summary | |
| Accident type | Landing accident |
| place | Hong Kong International Airport |
| date | August 22, 1999 |
| Fatalities | 3 |
| Survivors | 312 |
| Injured | 208 |
| Aircraft | |
| Aircraft type | McDonnell Douglas MD-11 |
| operator | China Airlines |
| Mark | B-150 |
| Passengers | 300 |
| crew | 15th |
| Lists of aviation accidents | |
China Airlines flight 642 was a scheduled flight from the old airport in Bangkok (now Bangkok-Don Mueang Airport ) to Taipei , Taiwan, with a stopover at Hong Kong International Airport in Hong Kong . Due to strong cross winds, the aircraft came off the runway when landing in Hong Kong, killing 3 passengers.
Aircraft
The flight was operated by the subsidiary Mandarin Airlines . The McDonnell Douglas MD-11 with the serial number 48468 was delivered to China Airlines on November 7, 1992 and has been flying for Mandarin Airlines since July 17, 1993 under the registration number B-150.
procedure
Due to the bad weather conditions in Hong Kong, the crew had considered flying directly to Taiwan if the situation in Hong Kong turned out to be unfavorable for a landing. After the plane approached Hong Kong and received information from the airport about the weather on the ground and the wind conditions, the crew was of the opinion that a landing in Hong Kong was possible. Prior to the arrival of Flight 642, four aircraft had abandoned the approach, five were flying to another airport and twelve aircraft successfully landed.
The attempt to land on runway 25L was made around 18:43 ( local time ) on August 22, 1999. At the same time, the center of Typhoon Sam was about 50 km northeast of the airport and wind speeds of up to 140 km / h were recorded. At an altitude of 700 feet, the crew received final wind information from the tower: The wind came from around 320 ° and thus 90 ° from the right at a speed of 28 knots, with peak gusts reaching 36 knots. Although the limit for cross winds on a wet runway is 24 knots on this type of aircraft, the crew continued their attempt to land. During the last section of the landing the machine tilted to the right and landed very hard on the right rear landing gear. Engine number 3 touched the runway , whereupon both the landing gear and the right wing tore off the fuselage of the machine. The plane turned on its longitudinal axis and slid off the runway on fire. When it came to a standstill, it was on the roof, the rear of the machine was on fire and was on a grassy area about 1,100 m from the touchdown point of the runway. The right wing was found about 90 m from the nose of the aircraft on a taxiway . The fire caused substantial damage to the rear of the aircraft, but was extinguished by the heavy rain and the quickly arriving airport fire brigade.
Three passengers were killed in the accident. All crew members survived. 200 people were injured on board.
Investigations
The investigation report comes to the conclusion that the accident can be attributed to pilot errors. The pilots were not able to reduce the excessive sink rate. As a result of the investigation, a number of improvements to pilot training have been recommended to China Airlines.
Web links
- Amateur footage of the crash
- Airdisaster.com video of Mandarin Airlines Flight 642 (English)
- Photos of Mandarin Airlines Flight 642 (English)
- Aircraft Accident Report 1/2004 on China Airlines Flight CI642 (Civil Aviation Department, Hong Kong) (English)
- Database entry at Air-safety.net (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ China Airlines B-150 . Airfleets.net. 2009. Retrieved February 16, 2010.
- ↑ a b c Report on the accident to Boeing MD11 B-150 at Hong Kong International Airport on August 22, 1999 ( English , PDF; 377 kB) Civil Aviation Department Hong Kong. December 2004. Retrieved February 16, 2010.