Free Republic

U.S. officials believe that the deadly China Eastern jet crash in March may have been intentional, sources told The Wall Street Journal Tuesday. According to the sources, data points to the possibility of an intentional nosedive orchestrated by someone in the cockpit, resulting in the deaths of 132 people. The airliner crashed on its way from Kunming, China, to Guangzhou, with reports saying that it seemed to launch into a descent at an almost vertical angle. U.S. accident investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board are aiding the Chinese authorities in their analysis of the incident, which occurred in a...

NAHA -- China Airlines has painted over its name and logo on the wreckage of a passenger jet that exploded in flames at Naha Airport in Okinawa moments after passengers slid down emergency chutes to escape. The airline painted over the name "China Airlines" on the left-hand side of the aircraft and the company's logo on the plane's tail fin. After the accident, photographs and video footage of the jet continued to appear in news reports, and the company apparently painted over the name and logo to limit further damage to its image. Before painting over the name and logo,...

NAHA, Japan (Aug. 20) - Passengers used emergency slides to evacuate a China Airlines jet just minutes before the plane burst into a fireball Monday after arriving in Okinawa from Taiwan. All 165 people aboard escaped unhurt, including the pilot, who jumped from the cockpit at the last second. Transport Ministry official Akihiko Tamura told reporters that airport traffic controllers had received no report from the pilot indicating anything was wrong with the Boeing 737-800. "The fire started when the left engine exploded a minute after the aircraft entered the parking spot," Tamura said. The plane exploded into flames seconds...

Crash investigators said Friday that fatigue cracks likely caused a China Airlines jetliner to split apart shortly after take-off and plunge into the Taiwan Strait in 2002, killing all 225 people on board. The cracks in the plane's tail section might have developed when the Boeing 747-200's tail hit the runway while taking off in Hong Kong in 1980, the Aviation Safety Council said in its final crash report. Flight CI611 from Taipei to Hong Kong broke up shortly after takeoff in May 2002 and crashed near the Penghu island chain, 50 kilometers off Taiwan's west coast. "The inflight...

TAOYUAN, Taiwan (Reuters) - A probe into last year's crash of a China Airlines jet, which plunged into the sea killing all 225 people aboard, found metal fatigue cracks that penetrated the skin of the aircraft, Taiwan investigators said Tuesday. The cracks -- as well as signs of metal corrosion -- had been covered by a patch called a "repair doubler," which was added as reinforcement to the plane after its tail struck a runway over 20 years earlier. The Boeing 747-200 disintegrated in mid-flight near Taiwan's Penghu islands while on its way to Hong Kong on May 25 last...

TAIPEI, Taiwan - The family of two crash victims has filed a lawsuit against Boeing Co. in a U.S. court, accusing the company of failing to tell a Taiwanese airline that the tail of one of its planes was improperly repaired before the jet crashed, a law firm said. The lawsuit, filed Monday in Chicago, was the first since the China Airlines jetliner broke apart about 20 minutes into a flight from Taipei to Hong Kong on May 25. Investigators still don't know what caused the accident that killed all 225 people on board. The plaintiffs are relatives of two...

TAIPEI, Taiwan - The initial probe of a China Airlines crash is ruling out an explosion and pilot error as causing the Boeing 747-200 to break up over the Taiwan Strait shortly after takeoff last month, the chief investigator said Tuesday. Investigators are considering the possibility that metal fatigue, structural failure or engine problems brought down the Taipei-Hong Kong flight, killing 225 passengers and crew, said Kay Yong, the chief investigator at Taiwan's Aviation Safety Council. Flight CI611 suddenly split into four pieces about 20 minutes after takeoff on May 25. The pilots indicated no problems before the plane disappeared...

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) - Initial analysis of a black box from a China Airlines jet has yielded no clues in the crash last month that killed 225 people but has shown several unusual sounds, the chief investigator said Sunday. Minutes before the Boeing 747-200 went down, the cockpit voice recorder picked up a noise that sounded like a human heart beat. But investigators have yet to identify the source of the noise, said Kay Yong, the chief investigator at Taiwan's Aviation Safety Council. Shortly before the crash, the black box also recorded a noise that sounded like "ka ta, ka...

TAIPEI, Taiwan - Investigators have recovered both of the "black boxes" from a China Airlines jet that split apart over the Taiwan Strait last month, killing 225 passengers and crew, a Taiwanese crash investigator said Wednesday. The Boeing 747-200's flight data recorder was pulled out of the water Wednesday morning, one day after crews recovered the plane's cockpit voice recorder, said Tracy Jen, spokeswoman for Taiwan's Aviation Safety Council. Investigators hope the devices will provide clues to why the jetliner broke up 20 minutes into a flight from Taipei to Hong Kong on May 25. The pilots reported no trouble...

TAIPEI, Taiwan - A U.S. company that specializes in underwater work arrived in Taiwan on Friday, joining the search for clues about why a China Airlines jet plunged into the Taiwan Strait last month, killing all 225 on board, an investigator said Friday. Since the crash three weeks ago, the Taiwanese have been unable to recover the plane's "black boxes," or voice and flight data recorders. Strong tides and low visibility have hindered the search. "Visibility has been so poor that divers can't even see their feet," chief investigator Kay Yong said. The U.S. company that joined the search, Global...

<p>BEIJING, China (CNN) --Radar data from Chinese authorities show that the doomed China Airlines CI611 flight bound for Hong Kong experienced two abnormal drops in altitude before it crashed last weekend.</p> <p>The information came from Liu Yajun, a traffic control expert at the Beijing-based Chinese Civil Aviation Association, who told Chinese-run Hong Kong daily Wen Wei Po about the sudden and as yet unexplained drops experienced by the Boeing 747-200.</p>

TAIPEI, Taiwan - Murky underwater video footage provided the first glimpse on Friday of the submerged wreckage of a China Airlines jet in the Taiwan Strait: a battered luggage container, a dining cart and a wing ripped from the plane's body. The chunks of debris might provide the best clues yet as to why the Taipei-Hong Kong flight suddenly broke apart 20 minutes after takeoff last Saturday and plunged into the seas before the pilots could send a distress signal. The crash killed all 225 aboard the Boeing 747-200. The images were filmed by naval underwater video cameras 60 meters...

Theories abound to explain cause SEARCHING FOR ANSWERS: One source says a Chinese missile strike cannot be ruled out, while another points to similarities to the crash of TWA Flight 800 in the US By Chiu Yu-tzu and Patrick Kearns STAFF REPORTERS A Chinese missile or fuel-tank explosion similar to what brought down TWA Flight 800 off the coast of New York in 1996 were among the theories put forth by aviation experts and other sources yesterday to explain Saturday's China Airlines crash. Kay Yong (¦¥³Í), head of the Aviation Safety Council, said yesterday that flight CI611 experienced an "inflight...

Coast Guard members salute the body of a China Airlines crash victim at Penghu's Makung Airport yesterday. PHOTO: GEORGE TSORNG, TAIPEI TIMES Theories abound to explain causeSEARCHING FOR ANSWERS: One source says a Chinese missile strike cannot be ruled out, while another points to similarities to the crash of TWA Flight 800 in the US By Chiu Yu-tzu and Patrick KearnsSTAFF REPORTERS A Chinese missile or fuel-tank explosion similar to what brought down TWA Flight 800 off the coast of New York in 1996 were among the theories put forth by aviation experts and other sources yesterday to explain...