China Airlines Flight 676

China Airlines Flight 676 was a scheduled international passenger flight. On Monday, 16 February 1998, the Airbus A300 jet airliner operating the flight crashed into a road and residential area in Tayuan, Taoyuan County (now Taoyuan City), near Chiang Kai-shek International Airport, Taiwan.

The A300, registered as B-1814, was en route from Ngurah Rai Airport in Bali, Indonesia, to Taipei, Taiwan. The weather was inclement, with rain and fog, when the aircraft approached Chiang Kai-shek International Airport, so the pilot executed a missed approach. After the jet was cleared to land at runway 05L, the autopilot was disengaged, and the pilots then attempted a manual go-around. The jet slowed, pitched up by 40°, rose 1000 ft, stalled, and crashed into a residential neighbourhood, bursting into flames. All 196 people on board were killed (including the governor of Taiwan's central bank, Sheu Yuan-dong, his wife, and three central bank officials ), along with six people on the ground. Hsu Lu, the manager of the Voice of Taipei radio station, said that one boy was pulled alive from the wreckage and later died.

At the time of the crash, it was the deadliest aviation accident on Taiwanese soil until the crash of China Airlines Flight 611. As of 2024, the crash remains the third deadliest accident in the history of China Airlines. China Airlines had 12 A300s in its fleet at the time of the accident.

Aircraft and crew
The aircraft involved in the accident was an Airbus A300B4-622R, with registration It was delivered to China Airlines on 14 December 1990 and was powered by two Pratt and Whitney PW4156 engines. The aircraft's serial number was 578 and it had its maiden flight on 16 October 1990. It was 7.3 years old at the time of the accident and had completed 20,193 flight hours.

The flight was flown by Captain Kang Long-Lin, 49, who had joined China Airlines in 1990, and had 7,226 hours total flight time (2,382 of them on the Airbus A300). First Officer Jiang Der-Sheng, 44, had joined China Airlines in 1996, and had 3,550 hours total flight time (304 of them on the Airbus A300). Both pilots were formerly with the Republic of China Air Force. The flight consisted of 175 Taiwanese nationals, five Americans, one French, and one Indonesian.

Accident
The plane took off from Ngurah Rai International Airport, Bali, en route to Chiang Kai-Shek International Airport, Taipei, Taiwan, with 182 passengers and 14 crew at 15:27.

The Airbus carried out an instrument landing system/distance-measuring equipment (ILS/DME) approach to runway 05L at Taipei Chiang Kai Shek Airport in light rain and fog, but came in 1000 ft too high above the glide slope (at 1515 ft and 1.2 nmi short of the runway threshold). Go-around power was applied 19 seconds later, and the landing gear was raised and the flaps set to 20° as the aircraft climbed through 1700 ft in a 35° pitch-up angle.

Reaching 2751 ft (42.7° pitch-up, 45 kn speed), the A300 stalled. Control could not be regained, as the aircraft fell and smashed into the ground 200 ft left of the runway. It then surged forward, hit a utility pole and a median strip of Provincial Highway 15 and skidded into several houses, surrounded by fish farms, rice paddies, factories, and warehouses, and exploded, killing all on board and 6 people on the ground.

Weather was 2400 ft visibility, runway visual range runway 05L of 3900 ft, 300 ft broken ceiling, 3000 ft overcast. According to the cockpit voice recorder, the last words, from the first officer, were "Pull up, too low!" This was surrounded by the terrain alarm and stall warnings.

Investigation and conclusion
On initial approach to land, the aircraft was more than 300 m above its normal altitude when it was only 6 nautical miles away from the airport. Nonetheless, it continued the approach. Only when approaching the runway threshold was a go-around initiated. During this time, the pilot had pushed the yoke forward and the plane's autopilot was disengaged, but was not aware of it, so during the go-around, he did nothing to actively take control of the plane, as he thought the autopilot would initiate the maneuver. For 11 seconds, the plane was under no one's control.

Following a formal investigation that had continued for nearly 2 years, a final report by a special task force under the Civil Aviation Administration concluded that pilot error was the cause of the crash of Flight 676. The report concludes by criticizing China Airlines for "insufficient training" and "poor management of the resources in the pilot's cabin".

Aftermath


After the accident, China Airlines flight number 676 was retired and changed to flight 772; it was still operated by the Airbus A300 until they were replaced by Airbus A330 aircraft.

The Airbus A300 was in the fleet of China Airlines until 2006, when it was replaced by the Airbus A330-300 and Boeing 747-400 aircraft.

In popular culture
The crash was featured in season 24, episode 5 of the Canadian documentary series Mayday, titled "Eleven Deadly Seconds".