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China Airlines Crash Remains Mystery - "Last Noise On CVR Was Sharp 'Thud' Before Power Went Off"
Associated Press ^ | 23 June 2002 | ANNIE HUANG

Posted on 06/23/2002 12:50:38 PM PDT by Asmodeus

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) - Initial analysis of a black box from a China Airlines jet has yielded no clues in the crash last month that killed 225 people but has shown several unusual sounds, the chief investigator said Sunday.

Minutes before the Boeing 747-200 went down, the cockpit voice recorder picked up a noise that sounded like a human heart beat. But investigators have yet to identify the source of the noise, said Kay Yong, the chief investigator at Taiwan's Aviation Safety Council.

Shortly before the crash, the black box also recorded a noise that sounded like "ka ta, ka ta, ka ta," Yong said. The last noise was a sharp "thud" before the power went off, he said.

Several Boeing 747 pilots who listened to the tape said the sounds were not normal in the cockpit, Yong said.

Each sound lasts a fraction of a second. Investigators could not say if they were related to the crash, "but at this moment, we'd rather be more suspicious," Yong said.

A closer and more sophisticated analysis was needed to identify the noises, he said.

The second black box, the flight data recorder, was still being analyzed, and Yong would not comment on its contents.

Yong repeated on Sunday that the pilots' conversations did not indicate any problems.

He refused to speculate about why the plane crashed on May 25 about 20 minutes after taking off from Taiwan enroute for Hong Kong. But divers searching for the wreckage deep under the sea did not "find anything that did not belong to the airplane."

Search crews are still trying to recover large parts of the plane, which split into four pieces before plunging into the Taiwan Strait near the Penghu island chain off Taiwan's western coast. The wreckage might offer the best clues about why the plane crashed.

Some aviation experts have suggested that metal fatigue might have caused the 22-year-old plane to break up. Others have suggested that an explosion — perhaps in the fuel tank — was to blame. Security officials have said there were no signs of terrorism or a missile attack.

Rescue teams have so far recovered 160 bodies. Eight corpses — including that of co-pilot Hsieh Ya-hsiung — were found Saturday in wreckage about 200 feet under the sea.

The United Daily News quoted prosecutors as saying Hsieh's body was attached to the seat when it was found, indicating there had been no problem requiring him to get up immediately before the crash.


TOPICS: Extended News; Foreign Affairs; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: chinaairlines
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To: Asmodeus
You know what is REALLY STUPID. That these morons in charge of these investigations have to guess what happened. Walk into any convenience store or a gazillion other mom and pop shops and you can see exactly WHAT HAPPENED at any moment of any day. It is called a CAMERA!!!!!!

HELLO! McFly!!!

Could you imagine Shop & Go having to anaylize data from black box and having only a "thud" to go on in tracking down who held up the store. Gee, was that thud the door closing, the perp pounding his fist on the counter or the bulk head failing.

21 posted on 06/23/2002 10:44:28 PM PDT by BJungNan
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To: dighton
You must be new here. Nobody here takes seriously that it's possible for an airliner to crash due to a mechanical failure.
22 posted on 06/23/2002 11:10:55 PM PDT by John H K
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To: John H K; dighton
Nobody here takes seriously that it's possible for an airliner to crash due to a mechanical failure.

As a former military jet engine mechanic, I can honestly tell you that mechanical failures do not never ever occur.

Ok, I'll admit it, I was biting my tongue real hard when I typed that.

23 posted on 06/24/2002 4:21:27 PM PDT by Tennessee_Bob
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To: All
Taiwan coast guard inspect the China Airlines flight 611 cockpit
recovered from the Taiwan Strait, Sunday, June 23, 2002,
on the outlying Taiwan island of Penghu.

24 posted on 06/24/2002 7:43:02 PM PDT by Asmodeus
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To: Confederate Keyester
*You* truly don't know what it was - do you?

(It's *real* easy to tell when someone throws a bunch of material on a page instead of answering the question.)

See, some of us actually lived those 'events' ...

25 posted on 06/24/2002 7:48:03 PM PDT by _Jim
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To: Asmodeus
What does the starboard side of that fuselage look like?
26 posted on 06/24/2002 7:49:37 PM PDT by _Jim
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To: _Jim
The photo posted appears to be the only one of recovered wreckage available todate. Is that a tarp - or part of a sling - on the right side of the nose section?

Taipei Times
[excerpt]one of the engines from the jet was retrieved yesterday morning by the search team. According to the Cabinet's Aviation Council, it was engine number one, one of the engines on the right side of the airliner. The engine was found near the wreckage of the front portion of the plane. The ASC said the search team would clean it before bringing it back to Penghu for inspection.

27 posted on 06/24/2002 9:43:52 PM PDT by Asmodeus
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To: Asmodeus
Am I missing something or does this report dovetail extremely well with the Flight 800 scenario? I would say the media is monolithic in such case.
28 posted on 06/25/2002 12:10:18 PM PDT by The Bolt
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To: Asmodeus
.. looks like rippling of the skin ... I think it (the skin in that area) is catching the light funny ...

Looking further toward the front and further back it appears to me that the area that 'looks like a tarp' begins to blend in with the remainder of the forward section of the nose/fuselage section.

About that recovered #1 engine (outboard starboard side) - I wonder if it shows some signs of 'fodding' (similar to TWA 800's starboard side engines) ...

29 posted on 06/25/2002 7:46:30 PM PDT by _Jim
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To: BJungNan
Walk into any convenience store or a gazillion other mom and pop shops and you can see exactly WHAT HAPPENED ...
"... in very fuzzy detail ..."

Yeah, but, does that convenience store video tape contain any valuable telemetry data like the pulse or respiration rate - or the 'attitude and pitch' of the perp?

30 posted on 06/25/2002 7:50:45 PM PDT by _Jim
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To: Lazamataz
To your #3:----- Da jie!!
31 posted on 06/25/2002 8:05:42 PM PDT by Exit148
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