Houston Community News >> China Airlines Found with Crack in Fuselage
9/21/2007 TOKYO -- Airport
workers in western Japan found a 70 centimeter (28-inch) fracture in the
fuselage of a China Airlines (CAL) Boeing 737-800, an official said Friday,
weeks after a similar plane flown by the company exploded at another Japanese
airport. China Airlines maintenance workers discovered the hairline crack near
the tail of the jet during a routine post-flight inspection Thursday afternoon
at Saga Airport on the southern Japanese island of Kyushu, Transport Ministry
official Rui Mitsuma said.
No anomalies were detected during the plane's flight from Taipei, Mitsuma said.
The fracture was found about 30 minutes before the plane's scheduled departure
for a return trip to Taipei, a China Airlines spokeswoman said on condition of
anonymity, citing company policy.
The airline sent another plane from Taipei to pick up the flight's 49
passengers, who left nearly 5 1/2-hours behind schedule Thursday evening, she
said.
A team of inspectors and maintenance workers were dispatched from Taiwan on
Friday, and are expected to arrive in Saga later in the day, she said. Japanese
aviation officials launched an investigation, Mitsuma said. On Aug. 20, a China
Airlines Boeing 737-800 that landed at Okinawa's Naha airport exploded in a
fireball at a gate seconds after all 157 passengers and eight crew safely
evacuated.
Investigators found a bolt on the right wing slat had come loose and pierced a
fuel tank, causing fuel to gush out and catch fire.
Contributed by China Post