China Airlines Flight 140

China Airlines Flight 140

Rendering of a similar A300
Accident summary
Date	26 April 1994
Type	Pilot error, stall
Site	Nagoya, Japan
Passengers	256
Crew	15
Injuries	7
Fatalities	264
Survivors	7
Aircraft type	Airbus A300B4-622R
Operator	China Airlines
Tail number	B-1816
Flight origin	Chiang Kai-Shek International Airport
Destination	Nagoya Airport

China Airlines Flight 140 was a route from Taipei, Taiwan to Nagoya, Japan. On 26 April 1994, the Airbus A300 on the route was due to land at Nagoya Airport. The Airbus A300 was completing a routine flight and approach, when, just before landing, the First Officer pressed the Takeoff/Go-around button (also known as a TO/GA) which raises the throttle position to the same as take offs and go-arounds.

Pilot Wang Lo-chi and copilot Chuang Meng-jung^[1] attempted to correct the situation by manually reducing the throttles and pushing the yoke downwards. The autopilot then acted against these inputs (as it is programmed to do when the TO/GA button is activated), causing the plane to have a very nose-high attitude. This nose-high attitude, combined with decreasing airspeed due to insufficient thrust, resulted in an aerodynamic stall of the aircraft. With insufficient altitude to recover from this condition, the subsequent crash killed 264 (15 crew and 249 passengers) of the 271 (15 crew and 256 passengers) people aboard. All passengers who survived the incident were seated at the starboard side of the aircraft in coach class.

The crash which destroyed the aircraft (delivered less than 3 years earlier in 1991) was attributed to crew error for their failure to correct the controls as well as the airspeed. It is the second highest death toll of any incident involving an Airbus A300 anywhere in the world after Iran Air Flight 655.

When it occurred it became the deadliest aviation accident since Nigeria Airways Flight 2120 in 1991, and it became the deadliest aviation accident in Japan since Japan Airlines Flight 123.^[2]

Passengers

Most of the passengers were Taiwanese and Japanese; 153 Japanese and 101 non-Japanese were on the flight. Two infants were on the flight.^[3] Most of the Japanese passengers were returning from package tours. An official from the airline said that 63 of the passengers were Taiwanese.^[2]

Chronology of the flight

The flight took off from Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport at 17:53 Japan Standard Time bound for Nagoya Airport. The en-route flight was uneventful and the descent started at 19:47, and the airplane passed the outer marker at 20:12. Just 3 nautical miles (5.6 km) from the runway threshold at 1,000 feet (300 m) AGL, the airplane levelled off for about 15 seconds and continued descending until about 500 feet (150 m) where there were two bursts of thrust applied in quick succession and the airplane was nose up in a steep climb. Airspeed dropped quickly, the airplane stalled, the nose dropped. The captain tried to pull back on the control column but was unsuccessful and the airplane struck the ground at 20:15:45. 31-year old Noriyasu Shirai, a survivor, said that a flight attendant announced that the plane would crash after the aircraft stalled.^[4] Sylvanie Detonio, who had survived by 27 April, said that passengers received no warning prior to the crash.^[3]

By 27 April 1994 officials said there were ten survivors (including a 3-year old) and that a Filipino, two Taiwanese, and seven Japanese survived.^[3]

By 6 May seven remained alive, including three children.^[4] A doctor expressed surprise in response to the survival of two of the children.^[5]

Court proceedings

• Japanese prosecutors declined to pursue charges of professional negligence on the airline's senior management as it was "difficult to call into question the criminal responsibility of the four individuals because aptitude levels achieved through training at the carrier were similar to those at other airlines." The pilots could not be prosecuted since they died in the accident.^[6]

• A class action suit was filed against China Airlines and Airbus Industrie for compensation. In December 2003, the Nagoya District Court ordered China Airlines to pay a combined 5 billion yen to 232 people, but cleared Airbus of liability. Some of the bereaved and survivors felt that the compensation was inadequate and a further class action suit was filed and ultimately settled in April 2007 when the airline apologised for the accident and provided additional compensation.^[7]

Aftermath

• On 3 May 1994, the Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA) of the Republic of China (Taiwan) ordered China Airlines to modify the flight control computers following Airbus's notice of the modification.^[8]
• On 7 May 1994, the CAA ordered China Airlines to provide supplementary training and a re-evaluation of proficiency to all A300-600R pilots.^[8]
• The flight numbers CI140/141 have been retired after the accident and have been replaced with CI150/151.

References

1. ^ ""It's over, it's over'/Recorder details cockpit panic aboard doomed plane." Houston Chronicle.
2. ^ ^{a b} Pollack, Andrew. "261 Die When a Flight From Taiwan Crashes in Japan." The New York Times. April 27, 1994, Retrieved on June 17, 2011.
3. ^ ^{a b c} Thurber, David. "261 die in crash of China Airlines Airbus in Japan." Associated Press at Houston Chronicle. Wednesday 27 April 1994. A14. Retrieved on 14 June 2009.
4. ^ ^{a b} "China Air co-pilot over limit for DWI." Associated Press at Houston Chronicle. Friday 6 May 1994. A26. Retrieved on 22 March 2009.
5. ^ "Doctor amazed that boy survived China Airlines crash." Fort Worth Star-Telegram. 28 April 1994. Retrieved on 30 December 2008.
6. ^ "China Airlines officials again avoid charges over 1994 crash." The Japan Times. Tuesday 10 April 2001. Retrieved on 25 December 2008.
7. ^ "Kin settle over 1994 China Air Nagoya crash." The Japan Times. Friday 20 April 2007. Retrieved on 25 December 2008.
8. ^ ^{a b} Nakao, Masayuki. "China Airlines Airbus A300-600R (Flight 140) Missed Landing and Goes Up in flame at Nagoya Airport." Japan Science and Technology Agency. Retrieved on 25 December 2008.

• Air Disaster, Vol. 3, by Macarthur Job, Aerospace Publications Pty. Ltd. (Australia), 1998 ISBN 1-875671-34-X, pp. 139–155.
• Official report from the Japanese Aircraft Accidents Investigation Commission (In Japanese) (English translation)
• Failure Knowledge Database on this accident

External links

	Republic of China portal
	Japan portal
	Aviation portal
	Disasters portal

• (English) Aircraft Accident Investigation Report – Aircraft Accident Investigation Commission (Archive)
  • Text version of English main report - Prepared for the World Wide Web by Hiroshi Sogame (十亀 洋, Sogame Hiroshi^?), a member of the Safety Promotion Committee (総合安全推進) of All Nippon Airways; and by Prof. Peter B. Ladkin, Ph.D. of the University of Bielefeld
  • English appendices text version - Prepared for the World Wide Web by Marco Gröning
• (Japanese) Aircraft Accident Investigation Report – Aircraft Accident Investigation Commission (Original version, version of record)

• Accident description at the Aviation Safety Network
• 2ND LD: Taiwan's China Airlines ordered to pay 5 bil. yen over crash.
• Cockpit voice recorder transcript from the flight
• "Kin settle over 1994 China Air Nagoya crash." Kyodo at the Japan Times. Friday April 20, 2007.
• China Airlines Airbus A300-600R (Flight 140) Misses Landing and Goes Up in Flame at Nagoya Airport
• "Kin allowed to view CAL crash victims' photos." The Japan Times. Wednesday, January 7, 2004.
• "Japanese find flight recorder in plane crash." The New York Times at the Houston Chronicle. Thursday April 28, 1994. A14.
• "Brothers recovering (World briefs) Houston Chronicle. Saturday May 7, 1994. A26.

Coordinates: 35°14′43″N 136°55′56″E / 35.2453°N 136.9323°E / 35.2453; 136.9323