China Airlines Flight 140 - Chronology of The Flight

Chronology of The Flight

The flight took off from Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport at 17:53 Japan Standard Time bound for Nagoya Airport. The en route flight was uneventful and the descent started at 19:47, and the airplane passed the outer marker at 20:12. Just 3 nautical miles (5.6 km) from the runway threshold at 1,000 feet (300 m) AGL, the airplane levelled off for about 15 seconds and continued descending until about 500 feet (150 m) where there were two bursts of thrust applied in quick succession and the airplane was nose up in a steep climb. Airspeed dropped quickly, the airplane stalled, the nose dropped. The captain tried to pull back on the control column but was unsuccessful and the airplane struck the ground at 20:15:45. 31-year old Noriyasu Shirai, a survivor, said that a flight attendant announced that the plane would crash after the aircraft stalled. Sylvanie Detonio, who had survived by 27 April, said that passengers received no warning prior to the crash.

By 27 April 1994 officials said there were ten survivors (including a 3-year old) and that a Filipino, two Taiwanese, and seven Japanese survived.

By 6 May seven remained alive, including three children. A doctor expressed surprise in response to the survival of two of the children.