Chinese plane makes emergency landing

A China Airlines passenger jet dumped its fuel after takeoff and returned to Taiwan for an emergency landing today when one of its engines vibrated strongly.

Shortly after the Boeing 737-800 jet took off from Kaohsiung International Airport in southern Taiwan with 153 passengers, pilots noticed that vibrations in the plane’s left engine exceeded normal levels, said China Airlines spokesman Paul Wang.

China Airlines’ CI643 morning flight to Phuket Island in Thailand, landed at Kaohsiung’s airport, where fire trucks and ambulances waited nearby on the Tarmac. The plane circled offshore for nearly three hours before landing.

Wang said the plane had to dump its fuel at sea to reduce the weight of the plane and meet landing requirement standards.

Passengers told TVBS cable news that most were calm when the pilot informed them of the problem with the engine, but that the hours of circling before the plane landed were nerve wracking.

China Airlines has worked hard to improve its safety record and image over the past few years following two major crashes during the 1990s. Still, problems continue to plague the airline.

Just two months ago, three China Airlines pilots were grounded after they took off on the wrong runway on a flight from Anchorage, Alaska to Taipei.