Plane gutted at Japanese airport

Plane gutted at Japanese airport

news.bbc.co.uk

A Taiwanese China Airlines plane burst into flames after landing on Japan's island of Okinawa but all 165 people on board are safe, officials say.

All the passengers and crew had just been evacuated when the fire broke out on the Boeing 737-800 at Naha airport.

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This is interesting. Strange that it was fine during it's flight, then caught fire after landing.

It caught fire 8 minutes after it landed. Apparently it may have come from the left engine, but why is probably anyones guess right now.

news.bbc.co.uk
(visit the link for the full news article)

"I saw passengers getting out of the airplane. And then there were four explosions," a witness, whose name was not given, told Nippon Television.

Television reports said that loud explosions were heard from the aircraft shortly after it landed in Okinawa, a popular resort destination which lies closer to Taiwan than Tokyo.

Falseflag?

I find it odd a few people heard '' multiple '' explosions.

for some reason, that doesnt strike me as being a mechanical accident.


edit: gulp!

[edit on 20-8-2007 by Agit8dChop]

........ i wonder if after all what happened had anything to do with the following facts mentioned in that same article...

The BBC's Caroline Gluck in Taipei says the incident is a major setback for the Taiwanese flag carrier, which once had one of the worst safety records for international airlines.

The airline suffered several crashes during the 1990s, and in 2002 one of its fleet crashed into the sea near the island of Penghu with 225 passengers and crew on board.

Excerpted from original article.

Originally posted by Agit8dChop
Falseflag?

I find it odd a few people heard '' multiple '' explosions.

for some reason, that doesnt strike me as being a mechanical accident.

Hmm, that does make it sound interesting, and I must admit I thought of something deliberate perhaps.

Although I will say this with regard to explosions. Batteries, the canisters that provide emergency oxygen or tires perhaps?

another 737-800 destroyed - how unsafe are these aircraft - 20% of the 737 crashes have been this aircraft (this year have been 7 so far) - and thats in the last 3 months alone!

Mainichi is reporting that it was a fuel leak, and the TV news is saying the same.

mdn.mainichi-msn.co.jp...

Originally posted by Harlequin
another 737-800 destroyed - how unsafe are these aircraft - 20% of the 737 crashes have been this aircraft (this year have been 7 so far) - and thats in the last 3 months alone!

01-JAN-2007 Boeing 737-400 PK-KKW AdamAir 102 near Sulawesi ? A1
13-JAN-2007 Boeing 737-200 PK-RPX RPX Airlines, opf. Gading Sari Aviation Services 0 Kuching Airp... A1
21-FEB-2007 Boeing 737-300 PK-KKV AdamAir 0 Surabaya-Jua... A1
07-MAR-2007 Boeing 737-400 PK-GZC Garuda 21 Yogyakarta-A... A1
05-MAY-2007 Boeing 737-800 5Y-KYA Kenya Airways 114 near Douala Airpo... A1
28-JUN-2007 Boeing 737-200 D2-TBP TAAG 5+ 1 M'Banza Cong... A1
20-AUG-2007 Boeing 737-800 B-18616 China Airlines 0 Okinawa-Naha... A1

Only two hull loss accidents with the 737-800 this year. If that got you worried, did you ever go on a 737-200? It accounts for 103 of 135 hull loss accidents with 737s. And anyway, it is the most popular airliner in the world.

Well it seems that what happened was this (at this stage of the investigation at least):

China Airlines flight 120 departed Taipei at 08:14 and landed at Naha Airport (OKA) at 10:27. A fire erupted in or near the nr.1 engine as the plane arrived at the stand. All occupants were evacuated immediately. When all occupants had evacuated, a large explosion occurred in the centre of the airplane. The airplane burned out completely.

looks on this BBC video like it's a fuel explosion, but i may be wrong:
video link