Background
China Airlines Flight 140 was a scheduled passenger flight from Taipei International Airport to Nagoya Airport, operated with aircraft registration B-1816. On April 26, 1994, at 0853 UTC (1753 JST), the aircraft departed Taipei carrying 271 persons: 2 flight crew, 13 cabin crew, and 256 passengers (including 2 infants). The flight plan specified an IFR route at FL330 with an estimated enroute time of 2 hours 18 minutes.
Flight History
The DFDR recorded the aircraft reaching FL330 at about 0914. At 1047:35, Tokyo Area Control Center cleared the flight to descend to FL210. The captain briefed the first officer on approach procedures during the descent. At 1058:18, contact was established with Nagoya Approach Control. The aircraft descended and reduced speed per clearances.
At 1107:14, the crew was cleared for an ILS approach to Runway 34 and instructed to contact Nagoya Tower. The No. 2 autopilot had been engaged since climb, and at 1107:22 the No. 1 autopilot was also engaged. At 1111:36, the first officer disengaged both autopilots. The aircraft passed the outer marker at 1112:19 and received landing clearance at 1113:39, with reported winds 290° at 6 knots. The approach under manual control was normal.
Accident Sequence
At 1114:05, while crossing approximately 1,070 feet pressure altitude, the first officer inadvertently triggered the GO lever. This shifted the aircraft into GO AROUND mode, increasing thrust. The captain cautioned the first officer and instructed him to disengage it. The aircraft leveled off at about 1,040 feet for 15 seconds. The captain directed the first officer to correct the descent path; the first officer applied nose-down elevator input, gradually regaining the glide path. The captain warned twice about the GO AROUND mode.
At 1114:18, both autopilots were engaged almost simultaneously at about 1,040 feet, 1.2 dots above the glide slope. For the next 18 seconds, the horizontal stabilizer (THS) moved from -5.3° to -12.3° (near max nose-up). The elevator moved continuously nose-down. At 1115:02, at about 510 feet, the captain told the first officer he would take over after being informed that the thrust levers had been latched. The thrust levers moved forward greatly, increasing EPR above 1.5, then were retarded to 1.3. The elevator moved near its nose-down limit.
At 1115:11, immediately after the captain called "Go lever," thrust levers moved forward again, increasing EPR above 1.6. The aircraft climbed steeply. The first officer reported a go-around to Nagoya Tower. Angle of attack increased sharply, calibrated airspeed decreased rapidly. The THS moved from -12.3° to -7.4°, and slats/flaps retracted from 30/40 to 15/15. At 1115:17, the GPWS activated a "Glide Slope" warning once. At 1115:25, the stall warning sounded for about 2 seconds. At 1115:31, after reaching about 1,730 feet pressure altitude (1,790 feet radio altitude), the aircraft lowered its nose and began to dive. The GPWS activated "Terrain, Terrain" at 1115:37, and the stall warning sounded continuously from 1115:40 until impact.
At about 1115:45, the aircraft crashed within the landing zone, approximately 110 meters east-northeast of the center of Runway 34 end. Seven passengers sustained serious injuries; all 264 other occupants were killed.