So these are plane crashes from around the world, but it's only for the countries that had a true crime case, if you don't see a plane crash in here, check my True crime from around the world book.
Warning, this book contains plane crashes and the a...
This plane crash takes us to the Asian country of Taiwan, which is located in the South China Sea, the East China Sea and it's located near China.
WARNINGS OF A MID AIR BREAKUP AND PLANE CRASH
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Pictured above is the accident aircraft, photographed in 2000.
China Airlines Flight 611 was a regularly scheduled international passenger flight from Chiang Kai-shek International Airport (now Taoyuan International Airport, IATA: TPE, ICAO: RCTP) in Taiwan to Hong Kong International Airport (IATA: HKG, ICAO: VHHH) in Hong Kong.
On the 25th of May 2002, the Boeing 747-209B operating the route disintegrated midair and crashed into the Taiwan Strait, 23 nautical miles (43 km; 26 mi) northeast of the Penghu Islands, 20 minutes after takeoff, killing all 225 people on board. The in-flight breakup was caused by metal fatigue cracks from a tail strike at Kai Tak airport in which the aircraft was not properly repaired according to Boeing policies and manuals.
The crash remains the deadliest in Taiwan, as well as the most recent accident with fatalities involving China Airlines, and the second-deadliest accident in China Airlines history, behind China Airlines Flight 140 (Crashed due to a stall and pilot error) with 264 fatalities.
The aircraft involved, registered as B-18255 (Bravo-18255), (originally registered as B-1866, Bravo-1866), MSN 21843, was the only Boeing 747-200 passenger aircraft left in China Airlines's fleet at the time. The plane was delivered new to the airline on the 2nd of August 1979, and spent its entire life with the airline. The aircraft had logged more than 64,800 hours of flight time at the time of the accident. The plane was equipped with 4 Pratt and Whitney JT9D-7AW engines and had a 355-seat configuration. Prior to the crash, China Airlines had sold B-18255 to Orient Thai Airlines for US$1.45 million. The accident flight was to be the aircraft's penultimate flight for China Airlines, as it was scheduled to be delivered to Orient Thai Airlines after it's return flight from Hong Kong to Taipei. After the crash, the contract to sell the aircraft was voided and Orient Thai replaced it with another 747. Only four passenger 747-200s were delivered to China Airlines, all from 1979 to 1980. The other three had been in full passenger service until 1999 when they were converted to freighters. They were immediately grounded by the ROC's Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) after the crash for maintenance checks.
The flight took off at 15:08pm local time (07:08am UTC), and was scheduled to arrive at Hong Kong at 16:28pm Hong Kong Time (08:28am UTC). The flight crew consisted of 51-year-old Captain Yi Ching-Fong, 52-year-old First Officer Shieh Yea-Shyong, and 54-year-old Flight Engineer Chao Sen-Kuo. All three pilots were highly experienced – both pilots had more than 10,100 hours of flying time and the flight engineer had logged more than 19,100 flight hours.
At 15:16pm local time, the flight was cleared to climb to flight level 350—about 35,000 feet (11,000 m). At 15:33pm, contact with the plane was lost. Chang Chia-juch, the Taiwanese Vice Minister of Transportation and Communications at that time, said that two Cathay Pacific aircraft in the area received B-18255's emergency location-indicator signals. All 206 passengers and 19 crew members on board the aircraft were killed.
