What happened
During a night flight from Denpasar-Ngurah Rai Airport, the aircraft type was performing a final approach to runway 05L at Taipei-Taoyuan Airport. The weather conditions were characterized by light rain and fog, with visibility limited to 2,400 feet and a broken ceiling of 300 feet. While at an altitude of 1,515 feet, the flight crew observed that the aircraft was approximately 1,000 feet above the required glide path and subsequently initiated a go-around procedure.
During this maneuver, the autopilot disconnected, but the crew did not successfully manage the pitch attitude. After passing the runway threshold at 1,475 feet, the application of go-around thrust caused the aircraft to pitch up sharply to an angle of +35°. As the aircraft climbed through 1,723 feet with flaps set to 20° and the landing gear retracted, the airspeed decreased to 43 knots. This led to an aerodynamic stall and a steep descent at a pitch of -44.65°.
Although the crew appeared to regain some control shortly before impact, the aircraft struck the ground approximately 3.7 km from the runway threshold, 200 feet to the right of the centerline. The impact destroyed 12 houses and caused the aircraft to disintegrate. There were 196 fatalities among the occupants, including citizens from the United States, Indonesia, and France. Additionally, the crash resulted in 7 fatalities on the ground.
Findings
Investigations into the accident identified several contributing factors:
- The aircraft was in an incorrect approach configuration due to being too high on the glide slope.
- There was a lack of effective coordination between the crew members.
- The flight crew did not adhere to established published procedures.
- The crew failed to correct the excessive pitch up attitude during the go-around maneuver.
- Inadequate crew training was noted as a factor.
- Reduced visibility caused by night, rain, and fog contributed to the difficult operating environment.