Fatigue cracks probable cause of China Airlines crash

Taiwan’s Aviation Safety Council said today fatigue cracks probably caused a China Airlines plane to crash in May 2002, killing all 225 people on board.

In releasing its final crash report, the Council said the cracks appear to have caused “structural failure” in the tail section of the Boeing 747-200, which disintegrated in the air shortly after take-off.

It said the cracks may have appeared in 1980 – when the plane’s tail hit the runway during a take-off in Hong Kong.

Flight CI611 from Taipei to Hong Kong was carrying 19 crew members and 206 passengers when it disappeared off radar screens about 20 minutes after taking off. The plane plunged into the sea near the Penghu islands, 30 miles off Taiwan’s west coast.

“The in-flight break-up of CI611, as it approached its cruising altitude, was highly likely due to the structural failure” in the tail section of the fuselage, said the council which had investigated the crash.

Previous reports already said the plane had fatigue cracks and corrosion near the area that split apart, and the airline failed to perform a range of tests on the jet.

Bad weather, pilot error, a terrorist attack and other external causes have been ruled out.