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| Crash: Henan Airlines E190 at Yichun on Aug 24th 2010, impacted terrain short of runway and burst into flamesBy Simon Hradecky, created Tuesday, Aug 24th 2010 16:34Z, last updated Friday, Jun 29th 2012 14:23Z | B-3130 on fire | A Henan Airlines (former Kunpeng Airlines) Embraer ERJ-190, registration B-3130 performing flight VD-8387 from Harbin to Yichun (China) with 91 passengers and 5 crew, burst into flames after the aircraft impacted terrain short of landing runway 30 at 21:36L (13:36Z). 42 people perished, 7 people received serious injuries and 47 minor injuries. All injured have been taken to local hospitals.
Yichun's emergency services said, that 43 bodies were recovered, 53 people were rescued alive. The black boxes have been recovered with no visible damage.
China's Civil Aviation Authority (CAAC) said shortly after the crash, the Embraer ERJ-190 registration B-3130 with 91 passengers (thereof 5 children) and 5 crew came to a rest approx. 1500 meters from the runway while landing at 21:36L, more than 40 people have been rescued, rescue operations continue. An accident investigation team has been dispatched to Yichun.
On Aug 25th the CAAC said, that 42 people died and 54 survived. The black boxes have been recovered and have been sent to Beijing for analysis.
Local Authorities said on Aug 25th, that visibility at the time of the accident was less than 300 meters (1000 feet) due to fog. The airplane was cleared to land, the crew reported they had the approach lights in sight. The captain of the flight is among the survivors.
The NTSB reported on Aug 26th, that the Embraer ERJ-190 registration B-3130 (engines CF34) impacted terrain about 1500 meters short of runway 30 resulting in 42 fatalities, 7 serious and 47 minor injuries. The NTSB assigned an Accredited Representative to assist the investigation as State of engine design and manufacture.
The CAAC reported subsequently, that crew fatigue was not an issue, the crew was in compliance with regulations regarding duty times. The captain (40) had been with the Air Force and joined Shenzhen Airlines in 2003 to fly Boeing 737s, converted to the Embraer ERJ-190 after the acquisition of Henan Airlines and became captain on the Embraer ERJ-190 on June 20th 2010. It was his first flight into Yichun.
The Airport Authority of Yichun countered claims, that the airport would be unsafe in night time operation, stating that the airport's instrument approach procedures as well as runway and approach lighting fully complied with international regulations. An ILS system was planned, the plans had been approved by CAAC and acquisition of land and preparations necessary to build the ILS system had already been completed, the airport hoped to get the ILS operational by end of the year. The airport's general manager was waiting for a delegation to arrive on flight VD-8387 and observed the (landing) lights of the aircraft approaching the field, when the lights suddenly disappeared. When he contacted the tower, tower told him radio contact with the aircraft had been lost. Tower reported, that the crew had indicated to clearly see the runway lights before tower cleared the flight to land.
Shenzhen Airlines, parent company of Henan Airlines, confirmed the accident and said, there were 91 passengers and 5 crew on board.
Aviation Sources in China said on Aug 24th, that at the time of the accident fog prevailed with a visibility of 300 meters. The airplane touched down approx. 1000 meters from the runway. On Sep 1st the sources reported, that the airplane touched down on rising ground 1200 meters before the runway with the left hand main gear, which collapsed at that point, a wing truncated a tree of 15cm diameter, the right hand gear touched down and collapsed, then the nose gear impacted ground and was torn off followed by the engines. The terrain is about 20 meters (70 feet) above the runway level. (Editorial note: 1200 meters before the runway threshold the airplane should be at 256 feet/78 meters on a 3 degree glideslope.)
A passenger said, that it had been a very smooth flight when the airplane touched down hard and was rocked around. The airplane was distorted and holes were in the fuselage after it came to a stand still. The passenger climbed out of a hole. About 1 or 2 minutes after stand still the airplane erupted in huge ball of fire.
Footage on state-run TV station CCTV shows the airplane came to rest in rugged brushland terrain approximately 500 meters before the runway and some distance from the approach lights well aligned with the runway centerline. The airplane had touched down some distance further out according to the wreckage trail.
Yichun's Lindu Airport [ZYLD] in the Heilongjiang province of China about 165nm northeast of Harbin Airport was opened to operation only on Aug 27th 2009 (construction began in 2008), the current route operated is Beijing-Harbin-Yichun. The airport, located 9km (4.8nm) from the city center in the Yichun Forest at approximate coordinates N47.8 E129.0, is capable to accept Airbus A320, Boeing 737 and similiar aircraft with a runway length of 2300 meters (7540 feet) and width of 45 meters (150 feet). The runway 12/30 features PAPIs for both ends, VOR/DME and NDB approaches are available for both ends.
The local weather station reported fair weather (few cloud), 20km visibility, calm winds (<4 knots), temperature at 27 degrees c and dew point 24 with 81% humidity two hours prior to the accident. 5 accident station reported light rainshowers 30km visibility, 30 26 (71% humidity).
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Metars for Yichun's Lindu Airport: ZYLD 241600Z 00000MPS 0600 FG NSC 13/13 Q1015 = ZYLD 241500Z 00000MPS 0600 FG NSC 13/13 Q1015 = ZYLD 241400Z 15001MPS 1000 BR NSC 12/12 Q1014 = ZYLD 241300Z 15001MPS 8000 NSC 13/13 Q1014 =
The remains in daylight the following day (Photo: AFP/Yun kong yc):

View from crash site towards runway in daylight:

View from crash site towards runway:

The wreckage in the night of the accident:


Map, Satellite Image from 2004 (Graphics: Google Earth):

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By Simon Hradecky, created Friday, Jun 29th 2012 14:21Z, last updated Friday, Jun 29th 2012 14:40ZChina's State Administration of Work Safety (CSAWS) released their final report in Chinese into the crash concluding the probable causes of the crash were:
- In violation of the airline's flight operation manual the captain attempted the approach to Yichun below required visibility. The airport reported 2800 meters of visibility while the manual required 3600 meters of visibility to begin the approach.
- In violation of regulations by the Civil Aviation Authority the crew descended below minimum descent altitude although the aircraft was operating in fog and visual contact with the runway had not been established.
- Despite the aural height announcements and despite not seeing the runway the crew continued the landing in the blind without initiating a go-around resulting in impact with terrain.
Contributing factors were:
- The airline's safety management is insufficient:
* part of the flight crew arbitrarily implement the company's operations manual as the company does not follow up outstanding problems. Records suggest frequent deviations from approach profiles, i.e. deviation above or below glide slopes, excessive rates of descents and unstable approaches.
* crew rostering and crew cooperation: Each of the crew was flying into Yichun for the first time despite the known safety risks at the airport, the communication and cooperation within the crew was insufficient, the crew members did not monitor each other in order to reduce human errors.
* the airline's emergency training did not meet requirements, in particular the cabin crew training did not provide for hands on training on E190 cabin doors and overwing exits. Alternate means by the airline did prove ineffective and did not provide the quality China's Civil Aviation Authority requires thus leaving cabin crew unprepared to meet required cabin crew emergency response capabilities.
- Parent company's Shenzhen Airlines oversight insufficient
* Shenzhen Airlines, after having taken over Henan Airlines in 2006, did not provide sufficient funding and technical support affecting the stability and safety of staff and quality management.
* Air China, holding stock into Shenzhen Airlines, installed a safety supervisor but failed to address the safety management issues with Shenzhen and Henan Airlines.
- No supervision by China's Civil Aviation Authority
* the license to operate the flight from Harbin to Yichun was granted without route validation and without safety management in violation of regulations.
* to solve the lack of cabin crew flight attendants were certified although not meeting the relevant requirements for air transport operations.
* the regional office of the Civil Aviation Authority did not communicate to their superiors that they had approved the domestic operation of the route from Harbin to Yichun permitting non-standard procedures.
- China's Civil Aviation Authoritiy safety management loopholes
* On July 27th 2009 the meteorological database system administrator mistakenly had entered the airport identifier ZYID instead of ZYLD which prevented special weather reports from being entered into the system. Henan Airlines' dispatch therefore could not brief and remind the crews accordingly.
The captain (40, ATPL, no experience data provided) was pilot flying, the first officer (27, CPL) was pilot monitoring. The aircraft was enroute at 6300 meters of altitude/FL206 about 170km/92nm from Yichun when the crew first contacted Yichun airport and was advised visibility was 2800 meters/9200 feet due to fog, which was concentrated at the aerodrome. The crew subsequently conducted a briefing for the VOR/DME approach into runway 30 and specifically mentioned the minimum descent altitude was 440 meters/1443 feet. The aerodrome controller again advised that the vertical visibility was good however the horizontal visibility was poor. The aircraft subsequently overflew the aerodrome, the tower controller was able to see the aircraft. While the aircraft entered the procedure turn the first officer commented the runway was very bright. After completing the procedure turn the crew reported the runway in sight, tower cleared the flight to land on runway 30 and again reminded the crew of the minimum descent altitude of 440 meters. About 40 seconds later the first officer commented "we have to bear this mist", the CSAWS analysed the aircraft entered low level fog at that point, 15 seconds later the autopilot was disengaged with the captain steering the aircraft manually.
42 seconds after the autopilot was disengaged the aircraft descended through 440 meters (MDA) although the aircraft was flying in low level fog and there was no visual contact with the runway. 21 seconds later, 1.6nm from touchdown at an altitude of 335 meters the first officer called a high rate of descent reminding the captain to reduce the sink rate. Another 6 seconds later the GPWS called 50, 40, 20, 10 and the aircraft impacted the ground. 5 seconds after the GPWS called 50 the ELT transmitter activated alerting the tower also monitoring the emergency frequency, 32 seconds later the tower alerted emergency services having lost contact with the aircraft. Tower attempted to contact the aircraft for another 13 minutes without reply.
More than 1000 rescue workers were deployed in the meantime, the first responders reaching the crash site 2 minutes 15 after tower raised the alert. Rescue operations were finished 3.5 hours after the alert after rescue of 54 people and the recovery of 42 bodies. 37 people received serious, 17 minor injuries. One of the serious injured later succumbed to serious burns in Yichun hospital.
The investigation determined the aircraft hit trees 1110 meters before the runway threshold, the main wheels contacted ground 1080 meters short of the runway threshold, the engines came to rest 870 meters short of the threshold with the main portion of the fuselage coming to rest 690 meters short of the threshold at position N47.7478 E129.0428. The fuel wing tank ruptured in the crash sequence leaking and distributing fuel. Smoke filled the cabin rapidly, the survivors escaped through the left rear door, the cockpit's left sliding window and a gap in the fuselage, while all other doors could not be opened due to deformation of the fuselage and the smoke barrier.
The investigation released a number of safety recommendations, at the first and foremost:
Implement "Safety First" as responsibility of all aviation enterprises to correctly grasp the relationship between safety and development as well as safety and effectiveness.
Detail Map with newer satellite images (Graphics: AVH/Google Earth):

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