China Airlines Flight 120 catches fire after the plane has landed, parked and had its engines switched off. An evacuation follows. The pilots must escape from a cockpit window. The blaze all but destroys the aircraft.
China Airlines Flight 120 was a regularly scheduled flight from Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport in Taoyuan County (now Taoyuan City), Taiwan to Naha Airport in Okinawa, Japan. On August 20, 2007, the Boeing 737-800 aircraft operating the flight caught fire and exploded after landing and taxiing to the gate area at Naha Airport. Four people—three from the aircraft and one ground crew—sustained injuries in the accident. The fire had been caused by a loose bolt puncturing a fuel tank.
Background
The China Airlines aircraft, registration B-18616, had been delivered in July 2002. Like other Boeing 737 Next Generation aircraft, it was equipped with CFM56-7B26 engines.
There were 157 passengers on board the aircraft, including 2 infants. Of the number, 110 passengers were from Taiwan, 23 were from Japan, and 24 were from other countries. The crew of eight were mostly Taiwanese, with one Japanese flight attendant.
Accident sequence
The plane landed normally at 10:26 a.m. local time and taxied to the gate area by 10:34. Ground crew noticed flames coming from engine number 2 as Captain You Chien-kou shut it down in anticipation of gate connection. Informed about the situation by air traffic controllers, the captain ordered an emergency evacuation. All passengers and flight attendants managed to leave the aircraft safely through the four hatches using slides. After the last flight attendant had fled from the right aft hatch, Captain You and First Officer Tseng Ta-wei, the last two people onboard, exited the aircraft through the cockpit window. The pilots attempted to use the cockpit escape rope to climb to the ground, but the first officer was knocked off the rope when the number 2 engine and right wing fuel tanks exploded, triggering a large fireball that consumed much of the fuselage. The captain subsequently leapt from the window without using the rope. Both pilots were uninjured and managed to run away from the plane. A statement from the airline confirmed that all passengers and crew members were evacuated safely.A 57-year-old Taiwanese man suffered from hypertension and an 8-year-old girl from Hong Kong felt unwell; both were sent to a hospital nearby. An airport ground crew member was hurt during evacuation on the ground, and a flight attendant, who was the last person to leave the cabin, fell over on the ground when the aircraft exploded.[citation needed]
It took about four and a half minutes from when the fire was reported to the airport fire service until the start of fire fighting actions. Japanese regulations require a response time of three minutes or less. The delay was in part because the tower controller could not hear the fire crews' radioed requests for permission to use the taxiways to reach the fire. With no response, the fire crews decided to use the taxiways anyway without permission.[6]: 31–39
The taxiways of Naha Airport were closed until 11:03 a.m. because of the incident.
According to Naha Airport air traffic control, the status of the aircraft was normal in that there was no report of any abnormal situation during cruising or landing.
Following the accident, the Republic of China Civil Aeronautics Administration grounded all 14 remaining Boeing 737-800s of China Airlines, Mandarin Airlines and the Republic of China Air Force for inspection of the fuel systems. The Japan Civil Aviation Bureau asked Japanese operators of 737-700 and 737-800 aircraft to similarly inspect their aircraft. No anomalies were found and the aircraft returned to service.
Investigation
The cause of the accident was investigated by the Aircraft and Railway Accidents Investigation Commission of Japan. The crew, as confirmed by the recording in the cockpit voice recorder, did not observe any abnormalities before the incident.
The investigating team confirmed that the aircraft caught fire in the gate area and there was no sign of fuel leakage during taxiing to the gate. The investigation focused on the possibility that a fuel leak led to the fire. At a news conference on August 24, investigators revealed that a bolt, which had come loose from the slat track, had punctured the right wing fuel tank, creating a hole 2–3 centimetres in diameter.
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