China Southwest Airlines Flight 4509
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China Southwest Airlines Flight 4509 (SZ4509) was a domestic flight in China from Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport,
Sichuan Sichuan (; zh, c=, labels=no, ; zh, p=Sìchuān; alternatively romanized as Szechuan or Szechwan; formerly also referred to as "West China" or "Western China" by Protestant missions) is a province in Southwest China occupying most of the ...
to
Wenzhou Yongqiang Airport Wenzhou Longwan International Airport is the airport serving the city of Wenzhou in southern Zhejiang Province, China. Formerly called Wenzhou Yongqiang Airport, it adopted the current name on 25 April 2013. The airport is located southeast o ...
,
Zhejiang Zhejiang ( or , ; , also romanized as Chekiang) is an eastern, coastal province of the People's Republic of China. Its capital and largest city is Hangzhou, and other notable cities include Ningbo and Wenzhou. Zhejiang is bordered by Jiang ...
. 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.


Aircraft and crew

The aircraft was a 1990-built
Tupolev Tu-154M The Tupolev Tu-154 (russian: Tyполев Ту-154; NATO reporting name: "Careless") is a three-engined, medium-range, narrow-body airliner designed in the mid-1960s and manufactured by Tupolev. A workhorse of Soviet and (subsequently) Russian ...
(serial number 90A-846, serial 0846) airliner powered by three Soloviev D-30 turbofan engines from
UEC Saturn United Engine Corporation, UEC NPO Saturn, PJSC (russian: ОДК-Сатурн НПО) is a Russian aircraft engine manufacturer, formed from the mergers of Rybinsk Motors and Lyul'ka-Saturn (after Arkhip Mikhailovich Lyulka) in 2001. Saturn's eng ...
. It was initially registered in the Soviet Union as CCCP-85846. It was delivered to the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) in April the same year, and was registered as ''B-2622''. The flight crew consisted of captain Yao Fuchen (), first officer Xue Mao (), navigator Lan Zhangfeng (), and flight engineer Guo Shuming (). There were also seven flight attendants on board.


Accident

On 24 February 1999, the crew was preparing the aircraft for landing at Wenzhou Airport. The flaps were extended at , but seconds after, the aircraft's nose lowered abruptly, the aircraft disintegrated in mid-air and crashed into an area of high ground, and exploded. Witnesses saw the plane nose dive into the ground from an altitude of and explode. All 61 people on board were killed. Several people on the ground were injured from debris.


Cause

Incorrect self-locking
locknut A locknut, also known as a lock nut, locking nut, self-locking nut, prevailing torque nut,. stiff nut or elastic stop nut, is a nut that resists loosening under vibrations and torque. Prevailing torque nuts have some portion of the nut that def ...
s had been installed in the elevator operating system, which maintenance crews failed to notice. These spun off during the flight, leaving the elevator uncontrollable. This disabled the aircraft pitch channel, causing the crash.Translated article
(Note: this translation was made automatically from the original (in Chinese) and has low technical quality, lends itself only to specific queries)


Aftermath

This and the
China Northwest Airlines Flight 2303 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 mal ...
disaster contributed to the decision to remove all Tupolev Tu-154 aircraft in China from service on October 30, 2002.


See also

* Alaska Airlines Flight 261 *
China Northwest Airlines Flight 2303 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 mal ...
*
China Southwest Airlines Flight 4146 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. Flight Flight 4146 was a scheduled domest ...
* Japan Airlines Flight 123 *
Emery Worldwide Airlines Flight 17 Emery Worldwide Airlines Flight 17 was a regularly scheduled domestic cargo flight, flying from Reno to Dayton with an intermediate stopover at Rancho Cordova. On February 16, 2000, the DC-8 crashed onto an automobile salvage yard shortly after ...
, a crash where a maintenance error led to an elevator jam and loss of pitch control. *
Continental Express Flight 2574 Continental Express Flight 2574 (Jetlink 2574) was a scheduled domestic passenger airline flight operated by Britt Airways from Laredo International Airport in Laredo, Texas to Houston Intercontinental Airport (IAH) (now called George Bush Inte ...
, an accident where a deicing boot detached from an elevator due to faulty maintenance, leading to a catastrophic loss of control.


References

{{Aviation incidents and accidents in 1999 Airliner accidents and incidents caused by maintenance errors Aviation accidents and incidents in 1999 Aviation accidents and incidents in China Accidents and incidents involving the Tupolev Tu-154 China Southwest Airlines accidents and incidents 1999 disasters in China History of Zhejiang February 1999 events in Asia