China Airlines Flight 611

Introduction
China Airlines Flight 611 was a scheduled flight from Taoyuan International Airport, in Taipei, Taiwan, to Hong Kong International Airport in Hong Kong, China. The aircraft operating the flight broke up mid-air on May 25, 2002.

22 Years Earlier
On February 7, 1980, the very same plane landed at Kai Tak International Airport in Hong Kong as China Airlines Flight 009, but suffered a tail-strike. A tail-strike is when a plane takes-off or lands too steeply, causing the tail of the aircraft to hit the runway. This isn't serious, but with bad repairs it can become bad. And in this case, it was poorly repaired. This means that the crack that the tail-strike created would get bigger and bigger until it eventually got too big for the plane to hold.

Can't Hold Forever
The flight took off from Taipei at 3:08 pm standard time (7:08 am UTC) and was scheduled to arrive at Hong Kong at 4:28 pm Hong Kong Standard Time (08:28 am UTC). At 3:16 pm (7:16 am UTC) the flight was allowed to climb to FL 350. At 3:33 pm (7:33 am UTC), the aircraft broke up mid-air and contact with said aircraft was lost. The flight broke up at the tail section, where the crack was, and the rest of the plane disintegrated afterwards.

Other Incidents
During the investigation, the crash of TWA Flight 800 was found to be similar to this crash. A Boeing 747 broke-up mid-air after a fuel tank explosion, killing 230. This crash had the title of the longest investigation ever taken out by the NTSB, standing at a staggering 4 years before answers were clear. The data and ideas collected during this investigation helped make future investigations quicker and easier, including the investigation of this crash.

In 1985, a Japan Airlines jet crashed into a mountain after poor maintenance damaged the tail, and killed 520. This gave it the title of the worst aviation accident to involve one airplane.

3 years later, Aloha Airlines Flight 243 landed after part of the roof of the plane blew off, killing one person. This lead to a major investigation of old planes to see if anything was out of the ordinary, and they investigated the 747 involved in this flight. Unfortunately, they missed the issue on the tail, leading it to continue to be in service despite the crack.

Air crash memorial (China Aviation Memorial Park)
China Airlines set up a monument at the military cemetery in Lintou Park, Huxi Township , after the anniversary of the air crash , alongside many statues of men, women and children, symbolizing the cycle of life, birth, old age, and death.

China Airlines set up a monument at the military cemetery in Lintou Park, Huxi Township , after the anniversary of the air crash , alongside many statues of men, women and children, symbolizing the cycle of life, birth, old age, and death.

The text of the inscription reads:

Air crash memorial monument erected [ edit ]
After the third anniversary of the air crash, all the flight safety investigations have also come to a stage and have been made public. China Airlines has set up a small supplementary monument next to the monument, describing the process of the investigation conducted by experts in the flight safety association and related professional fields. And the results are announced, and always be vigilant that the company should abide by international common norms and should not act cheaply and cause irreversible tragedies.

The text of the inscription on the 525 victims' supplementary tablet is as follows: Since then, around May 25 every year, family members of the victims of the air crash, local recreational people or rescue workers will go to the place to place flowers and pay their respects to commemorate the lives lost in the air crash.

A crash animation can be seen here: https://youtu.be/_cYPuGXTdbU

May the 225 lives that were lost that day rest in peace.