Asia-Pacific News
China Airlines probes mid-air opening of Boeing 747 cabin door
Dec 21, 2007, 4:29 GMT
Taipei - Taiwan's China Airlines said on Friday it is probing the opening of a cabin door on a Boeing 747-400 flight from Taipei to Los Angeles early this month.
'We are investigating this incident, and we apologize to the passengers on that flight,' Chen Peng-yu, head of CAL's press office, told reporters.
'When the plane took off from the Taoyuan International Airport, the crew made sure all the cabin doors were fastened, so we do not know why it opened in mid-air. We have asked the Boeing Company to explain it,' he said.
The incident did not cause any damage to the Boeing jet, he added.
The incident occurred on December 8. CAL, Taiwan's largest airline, admitted it Friday morning after the Apple Daily had reported it, being tipped off by one of the passengers on that flight.
According to the passenger, identified as Mr Tan, he noticed something was wrong five minutest after Flight CI008 had left Taipei for Los Angeles at 11:52 pm on December 8.
Tan, who was sitting in the business class cabin, said he heard commotion and crying in the economy cabin, and learned that a cabin door in the back of the jet had opened.
The door that snapped open was on the left side of the Boeing jet, near row 46 and 47.
As wind gushed into the cabin, some passengers began to cry as crew members tried to close the cabin door. When that failed, the jet - which was flying at an attitude of 1,000 feet - dumped 6.3 tons of fuel over the sea and returned to the Taoyuan airport.
After ground checks and a delay of four hours, the plane with 264 passengers aboard took off again for Los Angeles, the Apple Daily said.
CAL wants Boeing to probe why the door opened in mid-air, and If the cabin door was not fastened when the plane took off, why the warning light had not gone off.
Aviation expert Lee Shih-ping said that the sudden opening of a cabin door is extremely dangerous for the aircraft and passengers.
'If the cabin suddenly loses pressure, passengers can suffer from hypothermia or pass out from loss of oxygen. The cabin door or even passengers could be sucked out of the plane,' he said.
© 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-AgenturCOMMENT
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Older Talkback
page: 1
China Airlines sucks !!!!
Boo for China Airlines !!
Bismillah wal Hamdulliah wa Salawat 'ala Rasulallah wa 'Alihi wa Man Walah
Ama Badh :
As-salamu 'Alaykum wa Rahmatullah wa Barakatuh
Please avoid China Airlines because it's not a safe airline
Jazakallah Khayran
Wasalamu 'Alaykum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh
Mufti Ahmad Sa'id
Deputy Mufti of Zambia
airplanes have a maximum landing weight. a plane that is too heavy can stall (lose lift) on approach because of the low speed needed to land. this is called a crash when the plane falls out of the sky. dumping fuel is the easiest way to lighten the plane, otherwise luggage, cargo and people have to be jettisoned. maybe you'd like to volunteer so the fuel will be saved?
the airline version of this story isn't working. a door that opens on its own was most likely not latched. otherwise there will be some kind of damage to the door frame or latch bolts as the door forcibly opens. being able to close and latch the door and then take off a few hours later puts more suspicion on the flight attendants not closing the door properly. the indicator light could have been burned out. it happens. re-closing the door and taking off a few hours later means the door is still in working order. the airline isn't telling the truth and put the onus on the plane maker to prove airline neglect.
The reason why they had to dump fuel was because the take off weight is greater than the maximum, so when an emergency arises and they have to land the aircraft must be within the safe weight limits when landing ortherwise the landing gear may not be able to cope with the additional stress
* n 1970 August 12, Flight 206, a NAMC YS-11, struck a ridge while landing at Taipei, killing 14 people. This was the first fatal incident the airline had.
* On 1971 November 20, Flight 825, a Caravelle airplane, blew up after a bomb in it exploded, causing the deaths of 25 people over the Penghu Islands.
* On 1982 August 16, A Boeing 747 of China Airlines encountered severe turbulence. Of 292 passengers, two passengers died [9].
* On 1983 August 21, Philippine Senator Benigno Aquino, Jr. while disembarking Flight 811 a normal flight from Taipei to Manila, was assassinated by several aviation security men on the tarmac of the Manila International Airport.
* On 1985 February 19, Flight 006, a Boeing 747SP, went out of control, recovered, and made an emergency landing at San Francisco.
* On 1986 February 16, Flight 2265, a Boeing 737, crashed in Makung, Penghu, with 13 killed.
* On 1989 October 26, a China Airlines Boeing 737-209 crashed shortly after takeoff from Hualein, Taiwan. All 54 passengers and crew aboard were killed.
* On 1991 December 29, Flight 358, a Boeing 747 freighter, hit a hillside at Wanli, Taiwan after separation of Nos.3 & 4 engines, killing five people.
* On 1993 November 4, Flight 605, a brand new Boeing 747-400, overran the Kai Tak Airport runway 13 while landing during a typhoon. It touched down more than 2/3 down the runway and was unable to stop before the runway ran out, ending up in the water. All 396 people on board were safely evacuated.
* On 1994 April 26, Flight 140, an Airbus A300 of the airline crashed at Nagoya, Japan, and 264 people died. This accident happened during landing.
* On 1998 February 16, Flight 676, an Airbus A300, crashed during landing in Taipei, killing all 196 aboard and 9 on the ground, including the head of Taiwan Central Bank chief Hsu Yuan-Dong.
* On 1999 August 22, Flight 642, a McDonnell Douglas MD-11, crashed while landing at Hong Kong airport during a typhoon. Three people were killed.
* In 2002, Flight 11, an Airbus A340, departed Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport, Anchorage, Alaska at night from taxiway Kilo instead of runway 32. The 3 cockpit crew members, 12 cabin crew members, and 237 passengers, were not injured. The airplane was not damaged.
* On 2002 May 25, Flight 611, a Boeing 747-200, broke up in midflight on the way to Hong Kong International Airport in Hong Kong from Chiang Kai-shek International Airport in Taiwan. All of the passengers (206 people) and crew (19 people) on board died.
* On 2006 July 19, Flight 1682 traveling from Ho Chi Minh City to Taipei, had to make an emergency landing at Kaohsiung International Airport after a Vietnamese-American couple, who were reportedly drunk, attacked flight attendants. The husband broke the inner windowpane in the plane's cabin with his elbow. The noise caused a commotion on the plane, and two Taiwanese attendants who were fluent in Vietnamese tried to calm him down. However, he took a swing at one of the attendants. A male flight attendant was summoned to restrain the heavily built man, while the pilots asked for permission to make an emergency landing, claiming that the plane had been hijacked. The plane landed successfully without incident, and continued to Taipei.
* On 2007 June 27, China Airlines Flight AE845 bound from Kaoshiung to Hong Kong experienced a 'flameout' in both aircraft (Airbus A330-300) engines. The plane landed safely after avionics restarted the engines automatically. Neither the captain in command nor the crew were fully aware of the flameout [7].
China Airlines Flight 120, Boeing 737 after fire
China Airlines Flight 120, Boeing 737 after fire
* On 2007 August 20, China Airlines Flight 120, a Boeing 737-800 inbound from Taipei caught fire shortly after landing at Naha Airport in Okinawa Prefecture, Japan. After stopping on the tarmac, the engine started smoking and burning, and later exploded causing the plane to catch fire.[8] A statement from the airline confirmed that all passengers and crew members were safely evacuated, and a ground engineer knocked off his feet by the blast was unhurt.[9] The cause of the explosion has been attributed to a fuel leak caused by a bolt from the right wing slat puncturing the fuel tank.[10]
* On October 5, 2007, a Boeing 737-800 overran a runway at Saga Airport, Japan. The aircraft, registered B-16805, had a 77 cm crack on the fuselage and was undergoing repairs. The airplane returned to Saga Airport due to speed indicator problems and due to impending bad weather in Taipei due to a typhoon. No passengers were on the flight. [11]
Enough said?
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JasonDec 22nd, 2007 - 19:29:51
Why in the world would they dump 6 tons of fuel??????
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