The Herald Sun
PLANE belonging to Taiwan’s China Airlines caught fire soon after landing on Japan’s southern island of Okinawa today.
The Boeing 737-800 plane, which had just arrived from Taipei, was already being evacuated when the left engine exploded, ripping the plane apart, officials and witnesses said.
“I saw several passengers evacuate from the plane using a chute. After a minute or so, I heard the sound of an explosion. It was a big explosion,” said Tadahiro Hasuo, who told NHK he felt the heat of the blast while passing the airport in a taxi.
The charred remains of the plane lay broken on the tarmac near the terminal after the flames were extinguished, an hour after the explosion.
The nose of the plane sagged on its side, while the tail – emblazoned with the airline’s pink plum blossom symbol – was intact at the other end.
In between, the blackened remains of the interior could be seen, with much of the roof of the plane gone.
Early investigations raised the possibility that leaking fuel may have caught fire.
“We don’t have any information that suggests the accident was linked to terrorism. There is a possibility of the engine exploding and catching fire due to a fuel leak,” a Naha airport police official said.
One member of the ground crew had been injured, Kyodo news agency reported.
The airline said the plane, which had 157 passengers and eight crew, had just undergone scheduled maintenance.
“Everything was working according to normal procedure. There was nothing wrong during the flight,” China Airlines spokesman Johnson Sun said.
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.
Okinawa is a popular spot for beach holidays and the number of visitors to Japan from other parts of Asia has increased in recent years, with the lifting of visa restrictions.
By: steve rowell - 24th August 2007 at 07:17
ATW online
A small hole in a fuel tank caused by a loose wing slat bolt was the likely cause of the Aug. 20 China Airlines 737-800 post-landing fire and explosion at Naha Airport in Okinawa, Japan’s Aircraft and Railways Accidents Investigation Commission said yesterday.
Kazushige Daiki, the commission’s chief investigator, said a 0.8-1.2-in. hole was found in a fuel tank. Investigators believe the hole was caused by a bolt from a right wing slat. “The bolt pierced through the fuel tank and we believe that caused fuel to leak out,” he said at a news conference in Okinawa. The fuel subsequently ignited, although the source of the ignition was not discussed. The commission released a photograph that showed the punctured fuel tank, which appeared to have a hole with a bolt protruding from it.
Daiki added that it is unknown how the bolt came loose and made its way to the tank. All 165 passengers and crew were able to escape the fiery aircraft before an explosion destroyed it (ATWOnline, Aug. 22). At a separate news conference in Taipei, Taiwan Aviation Safety Council Executive Director Yang Hung-chih confirmed that investigators believe “a several-cm.-long bolt came off from its position and pierced the tank, resulting in the leak.”
Meanwhile, CI Chairman Philip Wei offered his resignation but it was unclear whether it will be accepted by the airline’s board. The carrier outlined details of pay packages for the 157 passengers who escaped the aircraft. Each business class passenger will receive TWD30,000 ($989.75) as a “trip payment” plus TWD20,000 for carry-on baggage and TWD30,000 for checked baggage. Each economy passenger will receive TWD25,000 plus TWD20,000 for carry-on bags and TWD20,000 for checked luggage.
CI described the compensation in a statement as “good-will payments” and noted that they are in addition to $100 and ¥25,000 ($217.90) in cash given to each passenger on the day of the incident.
By: steve rowell - 22nd August 2007 at 07:34
China Airlines was ordered by the Taiwanese government to ground temporarily its 11 remaining 737-800s for safety checks following the post-landing fire and explosion that destroyed a -800 Monday morning at Naha Airport in Okinawa.
By: steve rowell - 21st August 2007 at 02:32
News reports are saying it simply skidded while taxing causing the engine to explode, surely that is not enough to cause the engine to explode unless it sucked something substantial into it?
I think you’ll find it was probably caused by fuel leak of some sort
By: LERX - 20th August 2007 at 23:31
Watching this incident on BBC News tonight, it did appear that fire crews appeared to take a surprisingly long time to arrive.
But, I don’t know about the geography of this airport. maybe the plane was as far from the fire station as it could have been?
I used to fly China Airlines as a youngster (Airbus A300-600, I think), when I was too young to appreciate small matters like airline safety records…..
By: adamdowley - 20th August 2007 at 20:32
What really surprises me, and in some way annoys/angers me (I know that sounds silly) is the apparent speed at which it took the fire and rescue services to respond. Working in an airport myself and seeing day to day operations, I should expect the airport airfield fire service to respond pretty damn quick.
The first sign of any response on scene (from what I can see on the videos) is only after the aircraft has stopped, is fully evacuated, has ‘exploded’, and split in two. That (ok, so we don’t know the full details), quite frankly, is bloody awful.
Someone correct me if I’m wrong, but, in the UK atleast, fire and rescue must respond and attend within 3 minutes of an incident first occuring?
By: Homer09001 - 20th August 2007 at 14:06
News reports are saying it simply skidded while taxing causing the engine to explode, surely that is not enough to cause the engine to explode unless it sucked something substantial into it?
By: Homer09001 - 20th August 2007 at 14:05
and here a full video showing a lot of the fire:
http://www.metro.co.uk/video/videoPlayer.html?inMediaId=1865&in_page_id=1
By: Arabella-Cox - 20th August 2007 at 14:01
Its safe to say that aircraft wont be flying again.
By: Newforest - 20th August 2007 at 12:46
Registration is B-18616. Guess the passengers will have to wait a while for their luggage.:D
By: cloud_9 - 20th August 2007 at 11:36
And here:
By: Newforest - 20th August 2007 at 07:23
Photo here from CNN. This will be the third 738 total loss.
http://edition.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/asiapcf/08/20/japan.plane/index.html
Sign In
August 20, 2007 at 7:05 am