On May 8, 1997, an air crash occurred in Shenzhen, and a flight from Chongqing had an accident during the landing process. As a result, the plane broke into three sections and a fire raged on the runway, killing 65 passengers, injuring 33 others, and killing two flight crew members in the accident.
Later, through the analysis of the recordings in the black box, people gradually revealed part of the truth about the air crash. So, why did the plane, which was supposed to be safe to fly, crash all of a sudden?
Is it the aircraft itself, or is it caused by human error?
Jiuqi Southern Airlines Disaster: At about 9:17 p.m. on May 8, flight CZ3456 arrived at an altitude of 1,500 meters above Shenzhen Airport on time, made contact with the ground tower, and prepared to land.
However, the tower advised not to land for two reasons: first, the weather was bad and the rain was pouring down, and it would be dangerous to land rashly; Second, there are many staggered flights on the route, and there is no room to land.
The co-pilot first requested to descend to an altitude of 1400 meters, but was denied. However, after only 10 seconds, the tower was allowed to descend to a height of 900 meters. As a result, the plane began to descend rapidly.
However, due to the excessive speed, the cockpit soon sounded a warning of "low glide lane".
At this critical moment, the captain was faced with two choices: one was to choose the go-around, and the other was to choose to force the landing. The captain chose to force the landing, but the plane slammed into the runway, followed by three more bounces, and the runway was splashed with water.
At that moment, almost all the passengers sitting on the plane were violently bounced up, and then fell violently, and the severe pain spread through their bodies. But what spreads faster than the pain is fear – many passengers have seen that the glass of the plane is cracked, and even cracks have appeared in the ceiling!
The cry rang out suddenly, but it was muffled by the thunder outside.
The plane was still fast after three bounces, and the crew was faced with a difficult decision: either force the brakes and wait for a stoppage, or go straight to the go-around with full throttle. The captain chose the latter.
As a result, the shattered plane again rose to an altitude of 1200 meters and circled. The flight attendants managed to get in touch with the ground and let them know that enough space had been cleared, but the situation became even more serious when the plane's control system suddenly failed.
The plane even lost contact with the ground at one point, lost its way, and no trace of it was found on the radar.
Faced with the failure of the flight control system, the crew stubbornly took control of the aircraft and forced the landing. However, the plane did not slow down in time, but at the moment of landing, the left front wheel burst, and the entire plane was torn into three sections, dragging up a tongue of fire more than ten meters.
The blazing fire illuminates the entire airport and plunges onlookers into despair. Fortunately, the moment the plane failed to land, many passengers quickly ran to the tail, a move that saved many lives.
Unfortunately, as many as 33 passengers and two flight crew members were still killed on the spot.
The China Southern Airlines crash was one of the saddest air crashes in modern China. In the face of such a tragedy, we can't help but wonder, what caused this plane crash?
Is it a defect in the aircraft itself, or is it an oversight of human operation? Let's take a look at the accident plane. It is a brand new aircraft manufactured by Boeing in February 1994 and entered service in Shenzhen on February 28 of the same year.
By the time of the accident on May 7, 1997, the cumulative flight time was only 8,4575 hours. Compared with the service life of civil aviation aircraft of more than 25 years, this aircraft is undoubtedly very "young".
During its service, the aircraft was regularly maintained, there were no major breakdowns or major repair projects, and no overdue parts were used. In general, there were no problems with the aircraft.
If there is no problem with the plane, then it is obvious who the problem is. In the event of this air crash, both the ground tower and the aircraft crew are responsible. The cause was a decision-making error on the ground tower.
When the plane descended from 1,500 meters to 1,400 meters, they refused the request, however, just 10 seconds later, they allowed the plane to descend to 900 meters.
This fast-changing attitude made it difficult for the pilot to control the speed, which eventually led to the crash of the plane.
Second, the mission should not have been carried out in bad weather in the first place. At that time, it was raining heavily and thunderstorms, the visibility was extremely low, and the lighting effect of the aircraft was poor, so it was impossible to see the ground clearly.
There is a lot of water on the runway, and there is a huge risk of forcing the flight mission or landing. Especially during the landing of the aircraft, the crew hesitated and did not decisively return to flight, which has violated the relevant regulations.
Finally, the crew made several mistakes in the decision-making process, such as when the cockpit issued a warning about the bottom of the glide path when the plane began to land. Although the plane made adjustments to its glide trajectory, it did not reduce the throttle, causing the plane to crash violently and jump several times during landing, which was the direct cause of this.
Although it was still possible to recover the emergency braking at a critical moment, it was a pity that the captain did not take any measures, which directly caused the aircraft's bounce altitude to increase every time.
The first time was only 5 feet, the second was 7 feet, and the third time was 13 feet. At the same time, the vertical overload of the aircraft's grounding has also been increasing, causing serious damage to the aircraft components.
According to the recording, the technicians were aware of the damage to the operating system before the go-go. For example, there are several references in the recording to "the steering stick is light" and "weight has been lost", which proves that the connecting part of the steering stick is broken.
In this case, the choice of go-around is clearly wrong. Even if the steering stick is pulled to the bottom, it will not be possible to change the attitude of the aircraft in a dive at a large angle. As a result, the plane hit the ground directly at a wide angle, eventually disintegrating and causing a violent fire.
Therefore, for these major liability accidents caused by human causes, the crew should bear some responsibility for the air crash.
The crew cannot be blamed entirely for the deep-seated cause of the crash, and the responsibility of China Southern Airlines cannot be ignored. In this incident, China Southern Airlines' dereliction of duty, or even "inaction", was the main cause of the disaster.
First of all, China Southern Airlines made a serious mistake in the selection of its crew, and the crew was seriously inexperienced. Although Captain Lin Yougui flew for more than 10,000 hours, he was not a pilot most of the time, and he only served as a pilot for more than 3,000 hours.
Less experience in the type of aircraft flown and less than a day to fly solo. Such conditions make him the captain, which is really irresponsible, and in the face of emergencies, he cannot make timely and effective responses.
China Southern Airlines must be held accountable for its negligence in this regard.
In addition to the captain Lin Yougui, the co-pilot Kong Dexin, although he flew for more than 15,537 hours, his main duty was not to pilot, but to serve as a mechanic.
His solo flight time was only 88 hours, and he could not effectively cooperate with Lin Yougui, nor could he play the role of inspection and assistance. Flight observer Xiao Rong's simulation training time was limited to 123 hours of simulator training, which explains why the flight attendants on the plane are confused after an emergency.
In addition, there are also problems with the management system of China Southern Airlines, including a loose work style, lax management, and a lack of solid ideological education.
Although the crew knew in advance that the weather conditions would be bad, they chose to take off despite their lack of preparation. To make matters worse, they did not have a flight plan and response to the unexpected.
This directly leads to the fact that after the accident, there is no accurate data report, and the captain can only make decisions based on feelings, and mistakes occur frequently. In addition, there are serious problems with China Southern's audit system.
In order to take care of some colleagues, the company's leaders neglected the actual operation level of the pilots. As an airline, we have a responsibility to ensure the safety of our passengers, and to that end, we should deepen the concept of "safety first" in our corporate education.
However, the current company education is worrying, not only did not strengthen the safety education, the understanding of the situation is also insufficient, and even there is blind optimism, pride and complacency, this emotion eventually reached the pilot, which is extremely dangerous, because the pilot who has lost the cautious psychology, the technical quality will seriously decline, which will be irresponsible for the safety of the lives of the masses.
The tragedy of the 97 air crash left endless pain in the last 12 minutes of the black box recording, and we can hear the desperate cries coming from the cockpit, which makes people empathize and cry silently.
However, this was not the end of the tragedy, because it didn't take long for the families of the passengers on the plane to receive the bad news and rushed to the airport immediately. After that, the wailing of grief never stopped.
The family members of the passengers rushed to the scene of the accident in a minibus, and because they could not get off the bus, they could only open the windows on the bus and hide their faces and cry bitterly. Some of them were lucky, their loved ones survived the crash, they hugged each other tightly, and finally left with a little comfort with the "accident compensation" given by the airline.
However, many more families could not bear the blow and had no choice but to claim the bodies and relics of their loved ones in endless grief, and then, after signing the agreement, leave with grief and regret.
There are also those who do not want to forget the crash, hoping that the airline will release the truth of the accident and seek a just ending for the deceased relatives. But when the truth was revealed, most of them were silent, because the pilot, who was primarily responsible for the crash, had died in the accident.
No matter how deep the pain is, life must go on, so they finally chose to reach an agreement with China Southern Airlines to put an end to the crash. Things on the plane have passed, and things under the plane have just begun.
This air crash has fully revealed various shortcomings in the development process of China Southern Airlines, and exposed many major problems, which will be solved after the air crash.
China Southern is in trouble, facing a rectification and a reinvigorated reputation. However, these difficulties pale in comparison to the tragedy of the loss of life. Despite the continuous improvement of China Southern Airlines, the deceased cannot be resurrected.
The tragedy is a wake-up call for China's civil aviation industry, triggering a high priority on flight safety. Before the 321 air crash, China's civil aviation maintained a flight safety record of 4,227 days, which was unmatched.
However, when an air crash occurs, the survival rate is extremely low, making many people shy away from airplanes. But in reality, airplanes are a relatively safe way to travel compared to other means of transportation.
According to relevant data, although the frequency of car accidents and the number of fatalities are higher than that of airplanes, this does not mean that flying is absolutely safe. But we should believe that today's airlines are working hard to improve safety and make flying a safer mode of transportation.
And we passengers should also let go of their worries and choose to fly and travel. Because airlines have an inescapable responsibility for the safety of our lives, they must not only have the ambition to expand profits, but also have the determination to ensure the safety of passengers.
Only in this way can the airlines that put us in the skies thrive for a long time. We believe that the dream of safe flight will come true.