China Airlines failed to properly maintain crashed Boeing 747-200 aircraft - report

Airline Industry Information, March 15, 2004

AIRLINE INDUSTRY INFORMATION-(C)1997-2004 M2 COMMUNICATIONS LTD

Taiwanese carrier China Airlines is said to have failed to properly maintain a Boeing 747-200 aircraft that crashed in 2002, killing 225 people.

On 25 May 2002 a China Airlines aircraft crashed into the Taiwan Strait during a flight from Taipei, Taiwan to Hong Kong. The aircraft - a 22-year-old Boeing 747-200 that was to be decommissioned - departed from Chiang Kai-shek International Airport, some 40 kilometres south of Taipei, with 206 passengers and 19 crew members on aboard. About 20 minutes into the flight the aircraft broke into four pieces at an altitude of over 30,000 feet.

A report conducted by the government's Aviation Safety Council has reportedly found 29 cases of delayed or due inspections, which are supposed to prevent corrosion or deterioration of parts. Earlier investigations suggested that the crash was caused by metal fatigue, after the discovery of scratches and a 15-inch crack under a doubler that had been attached to the aircraft after its tail hit a runway in 1980.

Aviation Safety Council officials declined to say if the neglected inspections had caused the crash, reported Reuters.

((Comments on this story may be sent to aii.feedback@m2.com))