China Northern flight 6136 (CBF6136, CJ6136) was a flight from Capital airport, Beijing to Zhoushuizi airport, Dalian, a coastal city in Liaoning province of China.

On May 7, 2002, the end of the week-long holiday, The plane crashed into the bay near Dalian, shortly after the pilot reported "fire on board". killing all 103 passengers and 9 crew members.

It's the second air disaster in China in less than a month, after the Air China flight 129 disaster in April 15.

Contents

1 Disaster 2 Aircraft 3 Crew Members 4 Passengers 5 Weather 6 Accident Report 7 External Links

Disaster

The MD-82 jetliner took off at 2037 local time (1237UTC) from Beijing. At 2120 local time (1320UTC), as the plane nears Dalian, the captain reported "fire in cabin" to Dalian tower and requested an emergency landing. At 2124 local time (1324UTC) the aircraft disappeared from radar screen and lost contact with ATC.

It was due to arrive Dalian in 2140 local time (1340UTC).

Eye witnesses on nearby fishing boat reported "A plane with fire and smoke crashed into the sea, broke in to parts."

On 1505 local time (0705UTC) May 14, the CVR was picked up by the searchers from the sea, 7 days after the disaster. The FDR was picked up same day on 1705 local time (0905UTC).

Aircraft

• Model: McDonnell-Douglas MD-82
• Registration: B-2138
• MSN/CN: 49522/1702
• Engine: Pratt & Whitney JT8D-217A
• Year of Delivery: 1991
• Flight time: 26000 hours

Crew Members

• Flight Crew
  • Captain: Wang Yongxiang (王永祥), born in 1967, 11000 hours flight time;
  • First Officer: Chen Xuming (陈旭明), born in 1973, 3300 hours flight time.
  • Flight Mechanic: Pan Mingqi (潘明奇)
• Flight Attendants

Passengers

96 of the 103 on board are Chinese, 2 from Japanese, 2 from Korean, 1 from India, 1 from Singapore and 1 from France.

Weather

Weather at the time of crash was fine, there's no sign shows weather lead to the accident.

Accident Report

Result of the accident investigation was published by the Xinhua News Agency on December 8, 2002. An on board passenger named Zhang Pilin(张丕林), set up a fire in the passenger cabin with gasoline, caused the plane out of control and crashed.

Just several days after the disaster, there's reports that a passenger named Zhang Pilin has purchased 7 air insurance worth a total of 1,400,000RMB (about 170,000USD) prior to aboard the flight.

The investigation on the wreckage shows there's tracking quantity of gasoline near the seat of Zhang, most passenger including Zhang were died of carbon monoxide inhalation. The engine, cabin floor and other critical parts show no signs of burning or explosion.

Following investigation shows Zhang had flown from Dalian to Beijing and return to Dalian on CJ6136 in the same day. According to the video monitor record, he spent several hours smoking cigarettes in the waiting hall of Beijing airport. Zhang have purchased 2 insurances before leaving Dalian and purchased the remaining 5 in Beijing. Some water bottles filled with gasoline were also found in Zhang's apartment.

However, there's no detail accident report provided, due to it's considered as a "highly sensitive" topic in China.

Some rumors report Zhang was a terminally cancer patient and/or he was living on a huge debt, but there's no official confirmation on these.

External Links

• [1] Topic of "5.7 Air Disaster" on People's Daily; (in simplified Chinese)
• [2] Accident database record on airdisaster.com;
• [3] Accident aircraft photos from airliners.net.