China Airlines Flight 676


China Airlines Flight 676 was a scheduled international passenger flight that crashed into a road and residential area in Tayuan, Taoyuan County, near Chiang Kai-shek International Airport, Taiwan on the night of Monday, 16 February 1998.
The Airbus A300 jet liner 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 degrees, rose, stalled, and crashed into a residential neighborhood, bursting into flames at local time 4:20 PM. All 196 people on board were killed, along with seven 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.
It remains the deadliest aviation accident on Taiwanese soil. China Airlines had twelve A300s in its fleet at the time of the accident. It is also the second deadliest accident overall in Taiwan's history, behind China Airlines Flight 611, a Boeing 747-209B which broke up over the Taiwan Strait with 225 fatalities.

Aircraft and crew

The aircraft involved in the accident was an Airbus A300B4-622R, registration It was delivered to China Airlines on 14 December 1990 and was powered by 2x Pratt and Whitney PW4156 engines. The aircraft was 7.3 years old at the time of the accident and had completed 20,193 flight hours. Captain Kang Long-Lin, 49, joined China Airlines in 1990, and had 7,226 hours total flight time. First Officer Jiang Der-Sheng, 44, joined China Airlines in 1996, and had 3,550 hours total flight time. Both pilots were formerly with the Republic of China Air Force. The flight consisted of 175 Taiwanese nationals, along with 5 Americans, one French, and one Indonesian.
NationalityPassengersCrewGroundTotal
Taiwan175147196
United States5005
France1001
Indonesia1001
Total182147203

Crash

The plane took off from Ngurah Rai Int'l Airport, Bali, Indonesia en route to Chiang Kai-Shek Int'l Airport, Taipei, Taiwan with 182 passengers and 14 crew at 15:27.
The Airbus carried out an ILS/DME approach to runway 05L at Taipei Chiang Kai Shek Airport in light rain and fog but came in too high above the glide slope. Go around power was applied 19 seconds later and the landing gear was raised and the flaps set to 20 degrees as the aircraft climbed through in a 35 degrees pitch-up angle.
Reaching the A300 stalled. Control could not be regained as the aircraft fell and smashed into the ground left off the runway. It then surged forward, hit a utility pole and a highway median and skidded into several houses, surrounded by fish farms, rice paddies, factories and warehouses, and exploded, killing all on board.
Weather was visibility, RVR runway 05L of, broken ceiling, overcast. According to the CVR, the last words were from the First Officer and 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 meters above its normal altitude when it was only six nautical miles away from the airport. Nonetheless it continued the approach. Only when approaching the runway threshold, a go around was initiated. During this time, the pilot had unknowingly disengaged the plane's autopilot but was not aware of it. During the go around he therefore 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 two 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".

CVR transcript

The cockpit voice recording was leaked on the Internet, but has been removed as it is a property of the Taiwanese government.
The person speaking is listed in bold.
12:04:26 TWR Clear to land. Wind 360 at 3.
12:04:27 F/O Roger. Clear to land. Dynasty 676.
12:04:32 F/O OK. Glide Slope blue. Localiser green.
12:04:41 Capt It's 1,000 feet higher.
12:04:51 Capt It's coming. 1,000 feet.
12:04:54 Capt OK. Thirty forty.
12:04:55 F/O Thirty forty.
12:05:01 F/O Landing gear.
12:05:02 F/O Three green.
12:05:03 Capt Anti-skid
12:05:03 F/O Normal and...
12:05:05 Capt Slat flap.
12:05:05 F/O Thirty forty.
12:05:06 Capt Spoiler.
12:05:07 CAM
12:05:08 F/O Armed.
12:05:09 Capt Landing light.
12:05:10 F/O On.
12:05:11 CAM
12:05:12 Capt OK. Landing check list complete.
12:05:13 Capt GO lever, go Around.
12:05:14 F/O Go Around, GO lever.
12:05:16 CAM
12:05:18 Capt Positive gears up.
12:05:19 F/O Gears down?
12:05:20 Capt Gear Up!
12:05:20 F/O Gear up.
12:05:22 F/O Heading Select, plus.
12:05:22 F/O Plus ten.
12:05:24 CAM
12:05:24 Capt Flaps.
12:05:24 CAM
12:05:26 CAM
12:05:32 CAM
12:05:32 CAM
12:05:33 CAM
12:05:34 CAM
12:05:36 CAM
12:05:37 CAL 676 Tower, Dynasty.
12:05:38 CAM
12:05:40 CAM
12:05:42 Capt Aio.
12:05:43 CAM
12:05:45 Capt Aio.
12:05:44 CAM
12:05:45 TWR Dynasty 676, confirm go around?
12:05:47 CAM
12:05:48 CAL 676 Confirm go around.
12:05:49 GPWS Terrain.
12:05:50 F/O Pull up, altitude low.
12:05:51 GPWS Whoop, whoop, pull up,
12:05:52 CAM
12:05:53 GPWS Whoop, whoop, pull up.
12:05:56 GPWS Whoop, whoop, pull up.
12:05:56 CAM
12:05:57 End of Recording

Flight number retirement

After the accident, China Airlines flight number 676 was retired and changed to flight 772 and was still operated by the Airbus A300 until they were replaced by Airbus A330 aircraft.
The A300 was the fleet of China Airlines until 2006 when it was replaced by the Airbus A330-300 and Boeing 747-400 aircraft.