Accident | |
---|---|
Date | 21 November 2004 |
Summary | Atmospheric icing leading to loss of control |
Site | Baotou Erliban Airport, Baotou, Inner Mongolia, China 40°39′03″N109°50′31″E / 40.65083°N 109.84194°E Coordinates: 40°39′03″N109°50′31″E / 40.65083°N 109.84194°E |
Total fatalities | 55 |
Aircraft | |
Aircraft type | Bombardier CRJ200ER |
Operator | China Eastern Yunnan Airlines |
IATA flight No. | MU5210 |
ICAO flight No. | CES5210 |
Call sign | CHINA EASTERN 5210 |
Registration | B-3072 |
Flight origin | Baotou Erliban Airport |
Stopover | Beijing Capital International Airport |
Destination | Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport |
Occupants | 53 |
Passengers | 47 |
Crew | 6 |
Fatalities | 53 |
Survivors | 0 |
Ground casualties | |
Ground fatalities | 2 |
China Eastern Airlines Flight 5210 (CES5210/MU5210), also known as the Baotou Air Disaster, was a flight from Baotou Erliban Airport in Inner Mongolia, China, to Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport, with a planned stopover at Beijing Capital International Airport. On 21 November 2004, just two minutes after takeoff, the Bombardier CRJ200ER fell from the sky and crashed into a lake in Nanhai Park, next to the airport, killing all 53 people on board and two more on the ground. [1]
An investigation by the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) revealed that the plane had not been deiced by the ground crew while it was parked on the tarmac. Ice accumulation on the wings caused the plane to lose its lift, causing the crash. It is the deadliest accident involving a CRJ100/200 series, and was the deadliest in China Eastern Airlines' history at that time until the crash of Flight 5735 on 21 March 2022, which killed 132 crew and passengers. [1] [2]
Flight 5210 was operated by a Bombardier CRJ200ER, SN 7697, which was powered by two General Electric CF34-3B1 engines, which was delivered in November 2002, two years prior to the crash. At the time of the accident, the plane was still painted with China Yunnan Airlines livery, despite the airline having merged with China Eastern Airlines in 2003. The plane took off at 08:21 local time, 15 minutes ahead of schedule, carrying 47 passengers and six crew members. 10 seconds after taking off, the airplane shook for several seconds and then fell to the ground. The plane skidded through a park and crashed into a house, a park ticketing station, and a port, setting fire to several moored yachts. It then plunged into an icy lake. All 53 people on board and two park employees on the ground were killed in the crash. [1]
Chinese leaders Hu Jintao, Wen Jiabao and Huang Ju, ordered an immediate rescue operation. [3] More than 100 firefighters were dispatched to the crash site. Also sent to the disaster site were 250 police officers, 50 park staff, and 20 divers. Rescuers had to break through the ice to retrieve bodies. By the end of the day, crews had recovered 36 bodies from the frozen lake. According to a doctor who worked in a nearby hospital, rescuers had only recovered bodily organs and intestines of victims. [4]
Rescue efforts were hampered by the low temperatures. By the day after the crash, most of the plane had been recovered from the lake. A team of rescue experts from the Ministry of Communications' Maritime Bureau also arrived at the crash site on 22 November. [5] On 24 November, investigators located the cockpit voice recorder (CVR) and the flight data recorder (FDR) by the radio pings that the devices emitted. [6] [7]
On 23 November, the flight's passenger manifest was released by China Eastern officials. Of the 47 passengers on board, 46 were Chinese. Officials confirmed that only one foreigner was on board, from Indonesia. [8] The flight crew members were identified as Captain Wang Pin (Chinese :王品) (33), Vice Captain Yang Guang (Chinese :杨光) (37), and First Officer Yi Qinwei (Chinese :易沁炜) (27), plus two flight attendants and a security officer. [9]
Many witnesses stated that the plane shook for several seconds, and then exploded in midair. According to one witness, a blast occurred at the tail of the plane. Smoke began to pour from the plane before it crashed into the park, becoming a fireball, and then skidded across the park and into the lake. Others claimed that the plane exploded into "flaming fragments" in the air before it crashed. [10]
The crash occurred just three months after the bombing of a Tupolev Tu-154 and a Tupolev Tu-134 over Russia, which killed 90 people. At the time, investigators of the Russian bombings found traces of explosives aboard the two planes. Investigators at the crash of Flight 5120, however, stated that they did not find any evidence of terrorism, according to state-run news agency Xinhua. [10]
The crash was also just one month after Pinnacle Airlines Flight 3701, which also involved a CRJ200, prompting the Civil Aviation Administration of China to ground all CRJ200's for one month, until no technical faults with the aircraft were determined. [11] [12]
Weather at the time of the crash was good, although the temperature was below 0 °C (32 °F). A resulting hypothesis that ice particles in the fuel caused the disaster was later disproven.
Further investigation revealed that the accident aircraft had been parked overnight at Baotou Airport in cold weather, causing a layer of frost to form on its exterior. The aircraft was also not deiced prior to the flight. During takeoff, the frost contamination severely degraded aerodynamic performance, and as the jet rotated, it entered a stall from which the flight crew was unable to recover.
In 2006, 12 China Eastern Airlines employees were found to be responsible for the accident and received administrative punishment. [1]
China Eastern no longer operates the route of the accident. All flights between Baotou and Shanghai are now operated by its subsidiary Shanghai Airlines as Flights 9438 and 9136 (to Pudong). Flight number 5210 was reassigned to a Shantou-Shanghai flight.
Flight 5210 was the deadliest plane crash in the airline's history until the crash of Flight 5735 in 2022 which killed 132.
Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport is one of the two international airports of Shanghai and a significant airline hub of China. Hongqiao Airport mainly serves domestic and regional flights, although the airport also serves international flights. The airport is located near the town of Hongqiao in Changning District and Minhang District, 13 kilometres (8.1 mi) west of downtown, and is closer to the city center than the area's primary international airport, Shanghai Pudong.
China Eastern Airlines Corporation Limited, also known as China Eastern, is an airline headquartered in the China Eastern Airlines Building, on the grounds of Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport in Changning District, Shanghai. It is one of the "Big Three" airlines of the People's Republic of China, operating international, domestic and regional routes. Hongqiao airport, along with the larger Shanghai Pudong International Airport, are China Eastern's main hubs, with secondary hubs in Beijing Daxing, Kunming, and Xi'an.
Xiamen Air also known as Xiamen Airlines, is an airline based in Xiamen, China. Xiamen Air has its northern headquarters in Beijing and eight branches in Fuzhou, Hangzhou, Tianjin, Hunan, Beijing, Quanzhou, Chongqing and Shanghai, and two subsidiaries in Hebei Airlines and Jiangxi Airlines. Founded on July 25, 1984, Xiamen Airlines is the first airline in China to operate independently as an enterprise. It was established as a joint venture between the Shanghai Administration of Civil Aviation Administration of China, Xiamen Special Economic Zone Construction Development Company and Fujian Investment Enterprise Company. The shareholders are China Southern Airlines Corporation (55%), Xiamen C&D Group (34%) and Fujian Investment and Development Group (11%). The current chairman of Xiamen Airlines is Zhao Dong and the general manager is Wang Zhixue.
China Northern Airlines Flight 6136 (CBF6136/CJ6136) was a Chinese domestic passenger flight from Beijing Capital International Airport to Dalian Zhoushuizi International Airport. On 7 May 2002, the McDonnell Douglas MD-82 operating the flight crashed into the bay near Dalian shortly after the pilot reported "fire on board", killing all 103 passengers and 9 crew members. The cause of the fire was later determined to be arson.
China Eastern Yunnan Airlines, is an airline based in Kunming, Yunnan Province, People's Republic of China. It is the subsidiary of China Eastern Airlines, and was formerly known as China Yunnan Airlines, whose headquarters were on the property of Wujiaba Airport.
Zhengzhou Xinzheng International Airport is the principal airport serving Zhengzhou, the capital of Henan province, China.
China United Airlines Co., Ltd. is a low-cost carrier and a subsidiary of China Eastern Airlines with its headquarters and main hub on the grounds of Beijing Daxing International Airport in Daxing District, Beijing, operating scheduled flights and charter services in co-operation with local enterprises out of Daxing Airport. In 2019, China United Airlines' painted aircraft won TOP.01 at the World Classic Aircraft Award.
Baotou Donghe Airport is an airport serving the city of Baotou in Inner Mongolia, China. Eurasia Aviation Corporation, a joint venture between Ministry of Transportation and Communications of China and Lufthansa, built the airport in 1934. The airport was occupied by Japan in World War II. It was renovated and expanded multiple times to support the growing demands during the war. The airport is 14 miles (23 km) from downtown areas.
China Southwest Airlines Flight 4509 (SZ4509) was a domestic flight in China from Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport, Sichuan to Wenzhou Yongqiang Airport, Zhejiang. On February 24, 1999, the Tupolev Tu-154M operating the flight crashed while on approach to Wenzhou Airport, killing all 61 passengers and crew members on board.
China Express Airlines is a regional airline with its corporate headquarters on the grounds of Chongqing Jiangbei International Airport, Chongqing, China.
On 2 October 1990, a hijacked Boeing 737, operating Xiamen Airlines Flight 8301, collided with two other aircraft on the runways of the old Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport, while attempting to land. The hijacked aircraft struck parked China Southwest Airlines Flight 4305 first, inflicting only minor damage, but then collided with China Southern Airlines Flight 3523, a Boeing 757 waiting to take off, flipping onto its back. A total of 128 people were killed, including seven of nine crew members and 75 of 93 passengers on Flight 8301 and 46 of 110 passengers on Flight 3523.
China Northwest Airlines Flight 2303 was a domestic flight from Xi'an to Guangzhou, People's Republic of China. On June 6, 1994, the aircraft operating the flight, a Tupolev Tu-154M, broke up in-flight and crashed as a result of an autopilot malfunction which caused violent shaking and overstressed the airframe. All 160 people on board were killed. As of 2023, it remains the deadliest airplane crash ever in mainland China.
Fuyang Xiguan Airport is an airport serving the city of Fuyang in Anhui Province, China.
Henan Airlines Flight 8387 was a domestic flight operated by Henan Airlines from Harbin to Yichun, China. On the night of 24 August 2010, the Embraer E190 operating the route crashed on approach to Yichun Lindu Airport in fog. Forty-four of the 96 people on board were killed. It was the first hull loss and the first fatal accident involving the Embraer E190.
Wuhan Airlines Flight 343 was a domestic scheduled passenger flight between Enshi Airport and Wuhan Wangjiadun Airport, both in Hubei province, Central China. On June 22, 2000, the Wuhan Airlines Xian Y-7, registration B-3479, flying the route crashed after encountering an area of adverse weather; the aircraft was struck by lightning and encountered windshear.
China Southwest Airlines Flight 4146 was an Ilyushin Il-18 that crashed near Chongqing, China, on 18 January 1988 with the loss of all 108 passengers and crew. The crash was caused by poor maintenance.
Korean Air Cargo Flight 6316 (KE6316/KAL6316) was a scheduled Korean Air Cargo freight flight from Shanghai to Seoul. On 15 April 1999, the McDonnell Douglas MD-11F operating the route, registered as HL7373, crashed in Xinzhuang, Shanghai shortly after taking off from Hongqiao Airport, killing all 3 crew on board, along with 5 on the ground.
Guilin Qifengling Airport is a military airport in Guilin, Guangxi, China. Built in 1958, the airport originally served all commercial traffic to Guilin. It was poorly equipped to handle the rapid increase in tourism to the city during the 1990s. As a result, Liangjiang International Airport was opened in 1996 and all commercial flights shifted to it.
Sichuan Airlines Flight 8633 was a flight from Chongqing Jiangbei International Airport to Lhasa Gonggar Airport on 14 May 2018, which was forced to make an emergency landing at Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport after the cockpit windshield failed. The aircraft involved was an Airbus A319-100. The incident was adapted into the 2019 film The Captain.
China Eastern Airlines Flight 5735 was a scheduled domestic passenger flight in China from Kunming to Guangzhou. On 21 March 2022, the Boeing 737-89P aircraft operating the service descended steeply mid-flight and struck the ground at high speed in Teng County, Wuzhou, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, killing all 123 passengers and 9 crew members. Multiple reports say that the airplane was deliberately crashed, but the official investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) and Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) is ongoing. It is the third deadliest air crash in China after China Southern Airlines Flight 3943 and China Northwest Airlines Flight 2303, the deadliest air accident in China Eastern Airlines' history, and the deadliest plane crash in 2022.