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Data show flight CI611 broke up during ascent

Managing director of the Aviation Safety Council Yong Kay yesterday presented radar data -- partly provided by China -- regarding the China Airlines crash. PHOTO: CHIANG YING-YING, TAIPEI TIMES

Chinese radar data given to Taiwan has helped confirm that the ill-fated China Airlines flight CI611 broke into four pieces during its ascent, an official from the Aviation Safety Council (ASC, 飛安會) said yesterday.

Council Managing Director Yong Kay (戎凱) yesterday confirmed that the plane broke apart at an altitude of between 10,360m and 11,250m and that the aircraft's speed and heading were highly erratic in the moments before the disaster.

Chinese authorities, in an unusual show of cooperation, gave Taiwanese investigators radar data on flight CI611, which crashed on May 25, killing all 225 aboard.

The ASC held a press conference yesterday afternoon to present all the radar information they have collected.

``The data are very consistent. It shows the plane had not reached cruising altitude when the accident occurred,'' said Yong.

"Before today, we thought that the plane had actually reached its cruising altitude -- which is at about 10,668m."

Meanwhile, radar information provided by Beijing's Chinese Civil Aeronautics Administration shows that the aircraft flew at varying speeds and in the wrong direction two minutes before it hit the water. Taiwan's radar systems failed to register this data, officials said.

"To sum up the information that we have, we can confirm that the aircraft broke into four pieces. According to the radar data, one piece of the debris reached a height of 11,250m after the plane broke up" Yong said.

"In addition, Chinese radar information shows that the plane briefly flew at the wrong speed and in the wrong direction before it crashed. Unfortunately, we do need the `black boxes' -- the flight data recorder and the cockpit voice recorder -- to confirm our observations."

Yong said radar data shows that it took approximately 1 minute and 40 seconds for the biggest and heaviest debris to fall into the sea and 1 hour and 30 minutes for the lightest piece to "float" down and finally land.

After the crash, Tainan radar recorded unidentified material "floating" in the air and finally disappearing above Changhua County.

Aircraft passengers' belongings, found by investigators in the Changhua area, confirm the radar information.

"We need to find the `black boxes' as soon as possible," Yong said. "The flight data recorder automatically records flight information every 0.25 seconds. With that record, maybe we can figure out why the plane was flying at the wrong speed and direction.

Yong said that the "black boxes" are located about 22km northeast of Mudouyu (目斗嶼), Penghu County. Due to bad weather, however, rescuers have not yet recovered them.

"The good news is that the radar data supplied by China has helped us map out a smaller rescue zone where we are likely to find the most debris and maybe some bodies," he added. "Our rescuers are currently working in that zone. We are on the right track."

The zone is about 195km2 in size.
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