A 6m long piece of material fell from the right wing of a China Airlines (CAL, 中華航空) Boeing 747-400 freighter as it prepared to land in Atlanta, Georgia, at about 2pm on Sunday.
The US Federal Aviation Administration has opened an investigation into the incident and the aircraft remains grounded at Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport.
No one was injured and the aircraft — flight CI-5254 from Anchorage, Alaska — landed safely.
Photo: Yao Kai-Shiou, Taipei Times
Reports indicate that the piece broke away from the wing and snapped in two, damaging the fuselage of the aircraft before falling to the ground.
One piece of the debris hit the roof of a suburban house while the other landed in the parking lot of a shopping mall.
It is unclear why the incident was not reported to the press earlier.
According to aviation sources, one of the trailing edge flaps separated from the wing.
The plane had been scheduled to continue to Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas, but that leg of the journey was canceled.
Atlanta homeowner Pamela Ware, who lives about 8km from the airport in the suburb of Ellenwood, told the local TV station that she heard a huge bang when something landed on her roof.
The wing fragment made two holes in her roof before rolling off into the garden.
Nearby, the main part of the wing to break away fell into the parking lot outside a Walmart store.
According to Taiwan’s Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA), the pilots in the aircraft heard a loud bang when they were descending in Atlanta, which caused the steering wheel to tilt to the left by about 15°.
As the dashboard showed that the aircraft was in a normal condition, the pilots decided to turn the aircraft and tried to land again by setting the plane in auto-pilot mode, CAA said.
The airline followed government regulations by reporting the incident to the CAA, which then asked the airline to inspect all its aircraft of the same model. No abnormalities were found so far, the CAA said.
Additional reporting by Shelley Shan
TYPHOON: The storm’s path indicates a high possibility of Krathon making landfall in Pingtung County, depending on when the storm turns north, the CWA said Typhoon Krathon is strengthening and is more likely to make landfall in Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said in a forecast released yesterday afternoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the CWA’s updated sea warning for Krathon showed that the storm was about 430km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point. It was moving in west-northwest at 9kph, with maximum sustained winds of 119kph and gusts of up to 155kph, CWA data showed. Krathon is expected to move further west before turning north tomorrow, CWA forecaster Wu Wan-hua (伍婉華) said. The CWA’s latest forecast and other countries’ projections of the storm’s path indicate a higher
SLOW-MOVING STORM: The typhoon has started moving north, but at a very slow pace, adding uncertainty to the extent of its impact on the nation Work and classes have been canceled across the nation today because of Typhoon Krathon, with residents in the south advised to brace for winds that could reach force 17 on the Beaufort scale as the Central Weather Administration (CWA) forecast that the storm would make landfall there. Force 17 wind with speeds of 56.1 to 61.2 meters per second, the highest number on the Beaufort scale, rarely occur and could cause serious damage. Krathon could be the second typhoon to land in southwestern Taiwan, following typhoon Elsie in 1996, CWA records showed. As of 8pm yesterday, the typhoon’s center was 180km
TYPHOON DAY: Taitung, Pingtung, Tainan, Chiayi, Hualien and Kaohsiung canceled work and classes today. The storm is to start moving north this afternoon The outer rim of Typhoon Krathon made landfall in Taitung County and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春半島) at about noon yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, adding that the eye of the storm was expected to hit land tomorrow. The CWA at 2:30pm yesterday issued a land alert for Krathon after issuing a sea alert on Sunday. It also expanded the scope of the sea alert to include waters north of Taiwan Strait, in addition to its south, from the Bashi Channel to the Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島). As of 6pm yesterday, the typhoon’s center was 160km south of
SECURITY: The New Zealand and Australian navies also sailed military vessels through the Strait yesterday to assert the right of freedom of navigation The Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force on Wednesday made its first-ever transit through the Taiwan Strait in response to the intrusion by a Chinese reconnaissance aircraft into Japan’s sovereign airspace last month, Yomiuri Shimbun reported yesterday. The Japanese news platform reported that the destroyer JS Sazanamisailed down through the Taiwan Strait on Wednesday, citing sources in the Japanese government with knowledge of the matter. Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi declined to comment on the reports at a regular briefing because they concern military operations. Military vessels from New Zealand and Australia also sailed through the Strait on the same day, Wellington’s defense ministry
RSS