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China Airways passenger jet engulfed in flames in Okinawa

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Just saw this on Japanese TV tonight news:

  • investigators now revised their initial suspect of pylon's cavity as source of fuel leak, the new suspect is a bolt on a wing slat.
  • investigators found a bolt attached to the right wing slat, which had pierced the tank. The hole was about 2-3 cm diameter.
  • they now believe this caused the fuel to leak out.
  • they also revealed a witness (ground staff who stood next to right wing) as the 738 came to a stop. He described the leak is like "a waterfall gushing out" onto the ground.
  • investigators also revised the initial fuel leakage calculation from 5,500 kg to 2,500kg.
  • they suspect fuel leak started even when the 738 was still taxiing. Ground temp on that day was 30 deg C, and could have evaporated the fuel. That's why investigators could not find traces of fuel on taxiing route.

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TKY200708210455.jpg

 

It looks like CI's sensationalizing its rescue efforts backfired. Japanese media criticized CI's spokesman for attempting to twist the facts and re-focus the public's attention. CI turned the accident into a heroic welcome home for the crew, rather than talking about the seriousness of the accident.

 

CI arranged for Taiwanese Vice-President to pat the crew's back at a hero's welcome home press conference at the Presidential Palace.

 

Japanese media say that such attempts were designed to hide the fact that passengers escaped on their own without any evacuation announcement...passengers were the ones that activated the chutes themselves. They blame government involvement in CI (a state-owned co.) created a corporate culture that emphasizes more on hierarchy rather than teamwork and accountability.

 

Japanese media also questioned the appropriateness of having a media conference at a government's highest office to describe the crew's feelings after the accident. They also question that such media circus seem to put more emphasize on crew rather than passengers.

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Passengers criticise China Airlines over evacuation

Thu 23 Aug 2007, 10:28 GMT

 

By Ralph Jennings

 

TAIPEI (Reuters) - Passengers on a China Airlines plane that caught fire at the Okinawa airport criticised the flight crew on Thursday, saying they gave unclear evacuation instructions that could have caused potentially fatal delays.

 

China Airlines defended its crew's reactions.

"If the crew hadn't been on the ball and the clients hadn't cooperated, then the result could have been different," said Chen Peng-yu, the Taiwan airline's assistant publicity vice president.

 

Passengers got at least $857 (427 pounds) apiece in compensation, and more if their luggage was burned, Chen told Reuters.

 

According to many in a group of about 30 passengers who returned to Taipei on Thursday and spoke to reporters, passengers were crying and screaming for help inside the 737-800 aircraft that caught fire on Monday after landing on the southern Japanese island.

 

The fire had broken out as the plane neared its gate following its flight from Taipei to Okinawa's Naha airport.

 

All 157 passengers and eight crew escaped unhurt minutes before the plane's left engine exploded and ripped the plane apart, sending flames and columns of black smoke billowing into the air.

 

The crewmembers did not see the fire as soon as passengers looking through the plane windows did, causing panic among the 157 passengers and attempts to open the doors, the returning passengers said.

 

They said emergency exits didn't open fast enough and they didn't know where to gather for evacuation.

 

"Inside it was normal, but outside you could see smoke," said Lin Hsiu-cheng, 52, a returning tourist from southern Taiwan. "Everyone was scared, and why couldn't (the crew) see it?

 

"Finally all four doors opened," she said, her voice quickening and eyes widening as she spoke. She said the explosion came a minute after she got out.

 

Another passenger surnamed Liao said: "The crew was not clear on what to do. We witnesses were much more clear."

 

A Japanese Transport Ministry team investigating the fire said a bolt on the right wing of the plane appeared to have ripped through a fuel tank.

 

"We found a tear in the fuel tank, so there is a high possibility that fuel from the tank leaked through that opening," Kazushige Daiki, an investigation team official, told a news conference.

 

China Airlines has a troubled safety record, with four deadly accidents in the past 13 years, including a crash in the Japanese city of Nagoya in 1994 in which 264 people were killed.

 

http://africa.reuters.com/world/news/usnTP238724.html

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News from HK Radio Channel Online news reported that, this incident was caused by the birds around the airport.

Mother nature having her last word in I suppose !

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Looks like most of the accidents China Airlines has is either in Japan or enroute to HK.

 

I wonder if anything is said towards the late response of the fire engines?

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This photo showing passengers with luggage/belongings has now prompted Japanese investigators to start a new area investigation. They are looking if CI properly performed the evacuation procedures.

 

china3jj4.jpg

Edited by Denny Yen

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This photo showing passengers with luggage/belongings has now prompted Japanese investigators to start a new area investigation. They are looking if CI properly performed the evacuation procedures.

 

china3jj4.jpg

Taiwainese passengers are very demanding (no offense). You can see how demanding they are from the TVBS interviews. If i'm not mistaken, the whole evacuation process took 3 minutes. I bet it wouldn't had take that long to evacuate if the passengers didn't try to save their carry-ons. ...

1. The flight attendants were probably very shocked at the time and forgot to ask the passengers not to bring any of their belongings along.

2. FAs did ask the passengers not to bring their luggage but demanding Taiwainese passengers insisted.

3. Passengers didn't pay attention during safety demo. Hence don't know they are not supposed to bring their belongings during emergency evacuation.

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I do believe that they are very demanding. Even if the F/As did tell them not to take their belongings and leave, they won't be able to stop them from doing this. Any delays will keep them longer in the plane.

 

Taiwanese aren't Japanese or westerners - who are concious of what is right and what is wrong. I hate to say this but generally, Chinese, as well as most other Asian in large think more of themselves than the others. Therefore I am not surprised!

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Can't help to notice the title "China Airways passenger jet...." ;)

 

Uh-huh? Did I write 'airways'? Hehehe ... I was in a hurry last Monday when editing the title (no wonder it did not sound right, but I could not figure out why), and left home to catch AK904 to DPS. :D

 

+++

 

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Taiwainese passengers are very demanding (no offense). You can see how demanding they are from the TVBS interviews. If i'm not mistaken, the whole evacuation process took 3 minutes. I bet it wouldn't had take that long to evacuate if the passengers didn't try to save their carry-ons. ...

1. The flight attendants were probably very shocked at the time and forgot to ask the passengers not to bring any of their belongings along.

2. FAs did ask the passengers not to bring their luggage but demanding Taiwainese passengers insisted.

3. Passengers didn't pay attention during safety demo. Hence don't know they are not supposed to bring their belongings during emergency evacuation.

Taiwanese passengers who have just returned say that most of them "evacuated" themselves...no announcement was made. This is a disputed area too...CI say there was evac announcement, passengers say no.

 

Some even say the compensation wasn't enough, roughly MYR6,000....when their lives were put at risks and all belongings were destroyed. And a tour group's members were angry at CI for issuing them with seat numbers such as "44" (die die in Taiwanese) or "46" (already dead in Taiwanese).

 

Passengers mainly are angry because CI turned the story around into by portraying themselves as the hero...when passengers were put at very high risks. Passengers think they survived mainly because the a/c was already on the ground, and not due to CI's heroic efforts.

 

It was when passnegers' saw fire coming out of the engines that they started panic...and activated the emergency slides.

 

As for carrying baggage, Japanese TV managed to find and show CI's in-house training video...where you can hear the instructor telling F/A that no bags/belongings are allowed in an evac or emergency slide.

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This is latest from tonight's Japanese TV news, investigators have released pics and diagram of what may have caused a bolt attached to the wing slat's arm to pierce the tank. Japanese investigators are now demanding to see CI's maintenance record books for this particular a/c.

 

 

 

This is the pic of the slat and its sliding arm that retracts it back into the wing.

 

2007082501_02_0.jpg

 

 

 

This is the pic of the bolt that pierced the fuel tank.

 

im20070823SSXKE03962308200713.jpg

 

 

 

Diagram shows the missing pieces (marked red in diagram 2) from the bolt. These pieces are designed to prevent the bolt from becoming loose/dislocated. Investigators now think the dislocated bolt punctured the fuel tank, thus, causing fuel to leak down the pylon.

 

PK2007082502143660_size0.jpg TKY200708240397.jpg

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As usual, CI bad maintenance.

 

Talked with a few insiders, and it's well known that CI is quite arrogant and maintainence for their fleet is not up to the standard. But nevertheless hope that this will change their mindset.

 

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As usual, CI bad maintenance.

 

Talked with a few insiders, and it's well known that CI is quite arrogant and maintainence for their fleet is not up to the standard. But nevertheless hope that this will change their mindset.

 

New planes + poor maintenance = BAD, very BAD.

 

Hope airasia_00.gif not like that wan!

 

+++

 

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i don't know whether you have seen this clip before http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=1jVwccSuhgs&...ted&search=

 

For once, a foreigner had pronounced the provincial capital of Taiwan island correct - "Taibei" (instead of "Taipei" as in dictated by the highly inaccurate Wades-Giles Chinese spelling system).

 

Talked with a few insiders, and it's well known that CI is quite arrogant and maintainence for their fleet is not up to the standard. But nevertheless hope that this will change their mindset.

 

That could pose a challenge, really. It is sometimes all too difficult to change an established corporate culture. Luckily EVA Air is not like them.

Edited by S V Choong

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I saw this news a few days back on TVBS news, now I've found article about it. It's yet another China Airways B738 incidents.

 

Crack found in Boeing 737 tail section

Date Posted: 2007-09-23

 

A China Airlines jetliner was grounded in mainland Japan Thursday after an inspection turned up a 30-inch crack on the underside of the tail.

The plane, a Boeing 737-800, had landed at Saga Airport in Saga Prefecture on a flight from Taipei. The Land, Infrastructure and Transport Ministry is investigating the 77-centimeter crack. China Airlines denies reports the aircraft may have struck its tail on the runway while landing.

The Boeing 737-800 is the same model aircraft that exploded in a ball of flames at Naha International Airport August 20th. In that incident, a loose bolt that penetrated a fuel tank is believed to have caused a fuel leak that led to the explosion and fire. The 157 passengers and eight crew members used emergency slides to exit the China Airlines plane and escaped only moments before the jetliner burst into flames, then exploded.

The Sago incident is now being investigated by the Land, Infrastructure and Transport Ministry, as well as by a dozen engineers sent by China Airlines from its Taiwan headquarters. A replacement aircraft was flown to Sago after the crack was discovered, and all 49 passengers left Japan to Taipei six hours behind schedule.

 

Hope this is right thread to put it. Although it was just crack, not fire.

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China Air Replaces Chairman After Aircraft Fire

 

October 3, 2007

Taiwan's China Airlines, the island's largest carrier, replaced its chairman just over a month after one of its jets exploded after landing at Japan's southern island of Okinawa.

 

China Airlines chairman Philip Wei was replaced by Ringo Chao, who also serves as the company's president, the company said in a filing to the Taiwan Stock Exchange late on Tuesday.

 

On August 20, the left engine of a China Airlines Boeing 737-800 jet caught fire shortly after arrival in Naha city from Taipei, ripping the plane apart, officials and witnesses said, but all 165 passengers and crew escaped safely. No reason for Wei's replacement was given in the statement.

 

A Japanese Transport Ministry team investigating the fire said a bolt on the right wing of the plane appeared to have ripped through a fuel tank.

 

China Airlines has a troubled safety record, with four deadly accidents in the past 13 years, including a crash in the Japanese city of Nagoya in 1994 in which 264 people were killed.

 

(Reuters)

 

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Replacing a company's chairman does not neccasary means the company will transform to better company, take an example of our local national airline...

 

Well, let's hope their safety can get better, for the sack of every passengers that have faith with them.

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AK may be headed that way - but i guess they manhandled the twin otters and the F50s cos it was NOT theirs.

they will probably take better care of planes that they have to PAY for themselves. I HOPE!

 

 

anyways - 3 incidents involving CI 738s now. i would avoid flying them.

 

as Chan said, replacing the chairman will not make a slight difference to the main problem unless he acts upon it.

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Someone has to be responsible for the mishaps, so naturally it would be some high ranking officials to act as scapgoats.

 

It hasn't stopped people from flying them..... :unknw:

 

 

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