CAAC plane crashes

The following are significant events involving the airline or its subsidiares. The numbered events are those involving at least one airline passenger death where the aircraft flight had a direct or indirect role, and where at least one of the dead passengers was not a stowaway, hijacker, or saboteur.

This list includes events after 1980 and before CAAC (Civil Aviation Administration of China) was split into the following six different airlines in 1987:

Also included are events involving airlines that were created after the breakup of CAAC, but were later merged into of these six airlines.

  1. 26 April 1982; CAAC Trident 2E; near Guilin, China: The aircraft hit a mountain during an approach in heavy rain. All eight crew members and 104 of the 112 passengers were killed.

    24 December 1982; CAAC Ilyushin 18B; Canton (Guangzhou), China: The aircraft was on a scheduled domestic flight when an onboard fire broke out as a result of a carelessly discarded cigarette. The aircraft landed and the passengers and crew evacuated, but 25 of the 50 passengers were killed. All 11 crew members survived.

  2. 14 September 1983; CAAC Trident 2E; Guilin airport, China: The aircraft was taxiing on the runway to prior to takeoff when it was struck by a military fighter landing on the same runway. Eleven of the 100 passengers were killed.

  3. 31 August 1988; CAAC Trident 2E; Hong Kong: The aircraft was attempting a daytime landing in rain when it undershot its landing and struck a sea wall just short of the runway threshold. The aircraft departed to the right side of the runway and entered the adjacent bay and was partially submerged. All six crew members and one of the 83 passengers were killed.

  4. 31 July 1992; China General Aviation Yak-42D; Jiangsu Province, China: The aircraft settled back down on the runway shortly after takeoff and overran the runway before coming to rest in a water filled ditch. About 108 of the 126 occupants were killed. China General Aviation was acquired by into China Eastern Airlines in 1997.

  5. 23 July 1993; China Northwest BAe146-300; B2716; flight 2119; Yinchuan, China: The aircraft was on a scheduled domestic flight from Yinchuan to Beijing, China. There was a flap system failure during takeoff that caused a loss of lift and subsequently led to a rejected takeoff. The aircraft overran the runway and crashed into a lake. One of the five crew members and 55 of the 108 passengers were killed. China Northwest Airlines was merged into China Eastern Airlines in 2002.

  6. 6 June 1994; China Northwest Airlines Tupolev 154M; near Xian, China: The aircraft lost control and crashed about eight minutes after a daylight takeoff in heavy rain. The loss of control was apparently due to an improperly rigged autopilot system. All 14 crew members and 146 passengers were killed. China Northwest Airlines was merged into China Eastern Airlines in 2002.

  7. 24 February 1999; China Southwest Airlines Tupolev 154; near Ruian, China: The aircraft was on a domestic flight from Chengdu to Wenzhou when the aircraft exploded and crashed about 12 miles (19 km) from its destination. The weather was reportedly clear, and the plane was descending through about 3,300 feet (1000 meters) shortly before radio contact with the aircraft was lost. All 11 crew members and 50 passengers were killed. China Southwest Airlines was merged into Air China in 2002.

  8. 22 June 2000; Wuhan Airlines Y7-100; Sitai, China: The aircraft was inbound to Wuhan from Enshi when it was forced to circle Wuhan for about 30 minutes due to thunderstorms in the area. The aircraft crashed near the village of Sitai, resulting in the death of all four crew members and forty passengers. Seven people on the ground were also killed. China Southwest Airlines was merged into China Eastern Airlines in 2002.

  9. 21 November 2004; China Yunnan Airlines CRJ-200; B3072; flight 5210; Baotou, China: The aircraft crashed shortly after taking off on a scheduled domestic flight from Baotou to Shanghai. According to witnesses, the aircraft caught fire and suffered in in-flight breakup before crashing into a frozen lake about two kilometers (1.3 miles) from the runway. The six crew members and 47 passengers were all killed in the crash. Two people on the ground were also killed. China Yunnan Airlines was merged into China Eastern Airlines in 2003.


Related Information
Plane crashes for airlines of Asia
Selected Asian airlines with no fatal events
Definitions of Key Terms Used by AirSafe.com

CAAC plane crashes
http://airsafe.com/events/airlines/prc.htm -- Revised: 28 January 2017