China Eastern Airlines Flight 5398 (MU5398) was a

McDonnell Douglas MD-82 The McDonnell Douglas MD-80 is a series of five-abreast single-aisle airliners developed by McDonnell Douglas. It was produced by the developer company until August 1997 and then by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. The MD-80 was the second gene ...

airliner from

Shenzhen Shenzhen (; ; ; ), also historically known as Sham Chun, is a major sub-provincial city and one of the special economic zones of China. The city is located on the east bank of the Pearl River estuary on the central coast of southern province ...

's Bao'an International Airport to Fuzhou Yixu Airport in

Fujian Fujian (; alternately romanized as Fukien or Hokkien) is a province on the southeastern coast of China. Fujian is bordered by Zhejiang to the north, Jiangxi to the west, Guangdong to the south, and the Taiwan Strait to the east. Its cap ...

. On 26 October 1993, it crashed on approach to Fuzhou Yixu Airport. The aircraft overran the runway while landing in heavy rain and high winds. Two of the 80 passengers and crew on board were killed.

Event summary

On October 26, 1993, 11:50am, Flight MU5398 took off from Shenzhen airport and scheduled to land 12:50pm at Fuzhou airport. At 12:32pm, the crew contacted tower in Fuzhou airport preparing for landing. It was raining at the time, and the visibility was 4 km. The crew began the approach despite the poor visibility, resulting in a severe deviation to the right of the runway. The crew did not abort the landing and initiate a

go-around In aviation, a go-around is an aborted landing of an aircraft that is on final approach or has already touched down. A go-around can either be initiated by the pilot flying or requested by air traffic control for various reasons, such as an unst ...

, but tried to correct the course while continuing to descend. Only from the runway, and only above the ground, did the crew decide to go around. The aircraft kept losing altitude, and its tail struck the runway before the aircraft overran and stopped at a pond. The fuselage broke into 3 pieces. Two people were killed and ten more injured. Later investigation revealed that the crew of Flight MU5398 violated the approaching protocol at Fuzhou airport, and did not cooperate well with the air traffic controller. The cause of the accident was ruled to be pilot error.

After the event

China Eastern Airlines 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 i ...

continues to use Flight number MU5398, but it has changed to the route from

Chongqing Jiangbei International Airport Chongqing Jiangbei International Airport is located in Yubei District, Chongqing, China. The airport's IATA Airport code, CKG, is derived from the city's former romanized name, Chungking. Jiangbei airport is also a 128-hour transit visa-fre ...

Shanghai Pudong International Airport Shanghai Pudong International Airport is one of two international airports serving Shanghai and a major aviation hub of East Asia. Pudong Airport serves both international flights and a smaller number of domestic fights, while the city's oth ...

via

Wenzhou Longwan International 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 ...

, served by the

Boeing 737 The Boeing 737 is a narrow-body aircraft produced by Boeing at its Boeing Renton Factory, Renton Factory in Washington (state), Washington. Developed to supplement the Boeing 727 on short and thin routes, the twinjet retains the Boeing 707, 7 ...

. Fuzhou Yixu Airport was built in 1944 as a military airport. From 1974 it served for both civilian and military use, and was served by many domestic and international airlines. Due to the runway length and the increasing air traffic, a new civilian airport was proposed in 1991. On June 23, 1997,

Fuzhou Changle International Airport Fuzhou Changle International Airport is an international airport serving Fuzhou, the capital of Fujian province, China. The airport was inaugurated on 23 June 1997, after being approved to start constructing in 1992. The current handling ca ...

opened for operation. Fuzhou Yixu Airport returned to military use only. Registration number B-2103 was later assigned to a McDonnell Douglas MD-90 aircraft in 2000, operated by

China Northern Airlines China Northern Airlines () was an airline headquartered on the grounds of Shenyang Taoxian International Airport, Shenyang, Liaoning, People's Republic of China. Established on June 16, 1990, it was one of the six backbone airlines directly ...

. It continued to operate for

China Southern Airlines China Southern Airlines Company Limited is an airline headquartered in Baiyun District, Guangzhou, Guangdong Province and is the largest airline in China. Established on 1 July 1988 following the restructuring of the CAAC Airlines that acqu ...

when China Northern merged with China Southern in 2002. In November 2010, this MD-90 was sold to

Delta Air Lines Delta Air Lines, Inc., typically referred to as Delta, is one of the major airlines of the United States and a legacy carrier. One of the world's oldest airlines in operation, Delta is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. The airline, along w ...

as N965DN. It continued to operate with Delta Air Lines until July 2018, when the aircraft was then withdrawn from use and stored at

San Bernardino International Airport San Bernardino International Airport (, initialism: SBIA) is a public airport two miles (3 km) southeast of the city center of San Bernardino, California, in San Bernardino County, California, United States. The airport covers and has one ...

. It was eventually broken up in 2020.

References

{{coord, 26, 00, 16, N, 119, 18, 45, E, type:event_region:CN-35_source:kolossus-zhwiki, display=title 1993 disasters in China Accidents and incidents involving the McDonnell Douglas MD-82 Aviation accidents and incidents in 1993 Aviation accidents and incidents in China Airliner accidents and incidents caused by pilot error History of Fujian Airliner accidents and incidents involving runway overruns 5398 October 1993 events in Asia

Event summary

After the event

See also

References