China Airlines Boeing 737-800 destroyed by fire
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A China Airlines passenger jet caught fire at Naha Airport in Okinawa on Monday morning after arriving from Taipei in Taiwan. The airline said all 165 people on board the Boeing 737 were evacuated safely.
The aircraft burst into flames shortly after 10:30 a.m. local time at a parking spot in front of the international terminal.
For more details and video... -
China Airlines
Boeing 737-809
B-18616 (cn 30175/1182) -
3rd 737NG to go TU this year, in fact i do believe its the 3rd 737NG to go TU ever since its launch...
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Link to BBC Report
US sending team to Okinawa for investigation
The United States is sending a team of experts to assist the investigation into the cause of the fire that gutted a China Airlines plane at Okinawa's Naha airport on Monday.
The US National Transportation Safety Board says it will send an aircraft accident investigator and an engine specialist.
They will be accompanied by technical representatives from Boeing, the manufacturer of the plane, and General Electric, which produced the engine.
The board says the Japanese side requested the dispatch of the experts, and that they will be assisting the Japanese government in its investigation of the accident.
Boeing says the team is scheduled to arrive in Okinawa on Wednesday.
No problems found in inspections
Japanese airlines found no problems in inspections of 23 domestic passenger planes that have the same engine as the China Airlines Boeing 737 that caught fire on Monday.
Under the transport ministry's inspection orders, Japan Airlines inspected 5 planes, Skymark Airlines, 5, and Air Nippon, 13.
All airlines were operating as scheduled on Tuesday.
China Airlines president apologizes to passengers
China Airlines President Chao Kuo-shui has directly apologized to some of the passengers of its jetliner that burst into flames at an airport in Naha, Okinawa Prefecture in southwestern Japan, on Monday.
Mr Chao, who flew from Taiwan to Okinawa the previous night, met on Tuesday with more than 80 tourists from Taiwan and Hong Kong.
Mr Chao apologized for the accident on behalf of his company, and offered 100 US dollars each as partial compensation for belongings burnt in the plane fire.
One of the passengers said although she appreciated the sincerity of the airline company, she's not satisfied because all of her belongings were lost.
China Airlines says it will negotiate with passengers over how to compensate for their lost baggage.
China Airlines probe focuses on fuel tank
Japanese transport officials are focusing their investigation into Monday's Taiwanese plane accident in Okinawa on possible problems involving the aircraft's fuel tank.
The China Airlines Boeing 737 burst into flames shortly after landing at Naha airport.
The fire led to explosions that occurred just after all 165 passengers and crew escaped safely.
Investigations are continuing at the site on Tuesday by police and officials from the transport ministry's Aircraft and Railway Accidents Investigation Commission.
The fire is thought to have started around the right wing engine.
Investigators have obtained an account of the incident from a ground flight mechanic who said he saw a large amount of fuel leaking from the plane.
Investigators say the leak may have started from the fuel tank or the large pipes installed in the wing, rather than from inside the engine where the pipes are comparatively narrow.
They are analyzing the right wing to see whether there were any cracks or other abnormalities on the fuel tank or the pipes.
More News Reports...
Washington Post
Time
Charleston Gazette -
I think it's cellphones.
please..no using cellphones during refuelling, cars, planes or MV. -
eh???Originally posted by megatron:I think it's cellphones.
please..no using cellphones during refuelling, cars, planes or MV.
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A China Airlines 747 crashed in 2002 as it flew from Taipei to Hong Kong, leading to 225 deaths, and some 450 people died in China Airlines accidents during the 1990s.
I was on board a China Airlines plane once during my NS days. Think it was 1999. We were going for ROC...
Thanks SAF for choosing such a credible airline for your soldiers... -
Massive fuel leak from wing may have caused fire
Investigators from Japan's transport ministry are trying to locate where the fuel leak occurred, based on a witness account.
A China Airlines maintenance worker on the ground reported seeing a large amount of fuel leaking from under the aircraft's right wing, around where the engine is attached.
The area, called a pylon, contains a thick pipe through which fuel is supplied to the engine from the tank inside the wing.
Investigators believe fuel that leaked from a break in the pipe ignited and caused the fire that engulfed the plane.
China Airlines says the plane may have had nearly 5,000 kilograms of fuel inside the tank when it arrived at Naha Airport. -
Photo copyright Wikipedia and uploader.
What a wreck, sad case... -
Well, thankfully no fatalities.
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Originally posted by sarius:
Right wing? So how come the post-fire images show the starboard wing mostly intact, and the port wing completely gutted?
[b]Massive fuel leak from wing may have caused fire
Investigators from Japan's transport ministry are trying to locate where the fuel leak occurred, based on a witness account.
A China Airlines maintenance worker on the ground reported seeing a large amount of fuel leaking from under the aircraft's right wing, around where the engine is attached.
The area, called a pylon, contains a thick pipe through which fuel is supplied to the engine from the tank inside the wing.
Investigators believe fuel that leaked from a break in the pipe ignited and caused the fire that engulfed the plane.
China Airlines says the plane may have had nearly 5,000 kilograms of fuel inside the tank when it arrived at Naha Airport.[/b]
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it looks like there was a crosswind from the direction the smoke was blowing. the Manchester 737 accident showed the critical importance of crosswind in respect to ground fires of stationary aircraft. although the fire damage is seriously worse on the left side, this could easily have been due to crossover of the heat source and it is indeed very possible the cause of the problem was the right engine.
just my 2 cents. -
haha that is why in aviation and sea navigation, ppl dun use right or left... isit right facing u or right facing ahead...Originally posted by Meia Gisborn:Right wing? So how come the post-fire images show the starboard wing mostly intact, and the port wing completely gutted?
sadly not alot of pp understand term like "starboard" or "port"
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Eyewitness video of the evacuation and explosion:
http://news.orf.at/video/iptvpopup.html?japan_plane_update_edit.wmv -
Wha lan, looks like the captain got out in the nick of time, a minute or so later and the shockwave from the blast would've got him... maybe singed a few hairsOriginally posted by Meia Gisborn:Eyewitness video of the evacuation and explosion:
http://news.orf.at/video/iptvpopup.html?japan_plane_update_edit.wmv -
Investigators find hole in fuel tank of Taiwanese aircraft
Japanese transport officials say they found a hole in a fuel tank of a Taiwanese passenger jet that caught fire and exploded in Okinawa, southern Japan on Monday.
The Transport Ministry's Aircraft and Railway Accidents Investigation Commission announced the finding on Thursday.
Investigators checked the charred fuselage of the China Airlines Boeing 737 at Naha Airport, Okinawa, together with officials from the US National Transportation Safety Board.
The commission said they found a bolt had penetrated the fuel tank in the right main wing, making a 2 to 3 centimeter hole.
They suspect the bolt was a part of the slats, a movable section at the front of the wing, which is used to control the lift of the aircraft. Arms of the slats are retracted near the tank in the wing.
The investigators say a large amount of fuel leaked from the hole, and caught fire after coming into contact with the heated exhaust outlet of the right engine.
The investigators still don't know why the bolt pierced the fuel tank. They plant to find out whether it resulted from any problem at the manufacturing stage or from a possible maintenance error.
Govt orders checks of bolts on 23 planes
Japan's transport ministry has ordered checks on 23 Boeing 737 passenger planes in Japan, the same model as the charred Taiwanese jet, to see if bolts are secured to the front flaps on the edge of 2 wings.
The ministry on Thursday instructed Japan Airlines, Air Nippon and Skymark Airlines to complete the inspections by the time they begin service on Friday.
Earlier in the day, the ministry's investigators discovered that a bolt had penetrated the fuel tank in the right main wing of the China Airlines Boeing 737.
The investigators suspect the hole to be the source of a massive fuel leak. They say the bolt was part of the front flap, known as slat, on the front edge of the right wing.
The ministry also said that Boeing issued a call for airlines worldwide to check their aircraft in December 2005, after it confirmed 2 cases of similar trouble with its 737s. -
*nods* the pic above above with the smoke billowing out shows the smoke and heat being blown to the other side insteadOriginally posted by sarius:it looks like there was a crosswind from the direction the smoke was blowing. the Manchester 737 accident showed the critical importance of crosswind in respect to ground fires of stationary aircraft. although the fire damage is seriously worse on the left side, this could easily have been due to crossover of the heat source and it is indeed very possible the cause of the problem was the right engine.
just my 2 cents.