China Northwest Airlines Flight 2303
B-2610, the aircraft involved, in CAAC livery in 1988
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| Accident summary | |
|---|---|
| Date | June 6, 1994 |
| Summary | Mechanical failure due to improper maintenance |
| Site | Near Xi'an, P.R. China 34°16′N 108°54′E / 34.267°N 108.900°ECoordinates: 34°16′N 108°54′E / 34.267°N 108.900°E |
| Passengers | 146 |
| Crew | 14 |
| Fatalities | 160 (all) |
| Survivors | 0 |
| Aircraft type | Tupolev Tu-154M |
| Operator | China Northwest Airlines |
| Registration | B-2610 |
| Flight origin | Xianyang Airport (XIY/ZLXY), China |
| Destination | Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport (former) (CAN/ZGGG), China |
China Northwest Airlines Flight 2303 was a domestic flight from Xi'an to Guangzhou, People's Republic of China. On June 6, 1994, this aircraft, a Tupolev Tu-154M, broke up in-flight and crashed as a result of an autopilot malfunction which caused violent shaking and overstressed the airframe. Faulty maintenance was believed to be the cause.
Approximately eight minutes after takeoff (ten minutes in some reports), the control tower at Xianyang Airport lost contact with the plane and it crashed in a field 18 miles (29 km) southeast of the airport. All 146 passengers and 14 crew died. As of 2016, it remains the deadliest airplane crash ever to occur in mainland China.
Among the passengers, 133 were from mainland China, four were from Italy, three were from Hong Kong, two from the United States, one from Taiwan, two from Indonesia, one from Singapore, one from Malaysia, three from France, one from Canada, three from South Korea, one from Vietnam, and five were from Russia.
Flawed maintenance of the aircraft was the probable cause of the sequence of events. The previous evening, the autopilot yaw-channel had been erroneously connected to the bank control, and the bank-channel to the yaw controls while undergoing maintenance at an unapproved facility.
In 2003 China Northwest airlines merged into China Eastern Airlines. The flight number 2303 used by the accident flight is still in use, now by China Eastern Airlines, for their Xian-Guangzhou flight.
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