ASN Aircraft accident Boeing 737-222 B-2603 Sanyi Township, Miaoli County
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Status:
Date: Saturday 22 August 1981
Time: 10:00
Type: Silhouette image of generic B732 model; specific model in this crash may look slightly different
Boeing 737-222
Operator: Far Eastern Air Transport - FEAT
Registration: B-2603
MSN: 19939/151
First flight: 1969-04-30 (12 years 4 months)
Cycles: 33313
Engines: 2 Pratt & Whitney JT8D-7A
Crew: Fatalities: 6 / Occupants: 6
Passengers: Fatalities: 104 / Occupants: 104
Total: Fatalities: 110 / Occupants: 110
Aircraft damage: Destroyed
Aircraft fate: Written off (damaged beyond repair)
Location: near Sanyi Township, Miaoli County (   Taiwan)
Phase: En route (ENR)
Nature: Domestic Scheduled Passenger
Departure airport: Taipei-Songshan Airport (TSA/RCSS), Taiwan
Destination airport: Kaohsiung International Airport (KHH/RCKH), Taiwan
Flightnumber: 103
Narrative:
Far Eastern Air Transport flight 103, a Boeing 737-200, crashed near Sanyi Township, Taiwan, killing all 110 on board.
Seventeen days before the accident, on August 5, 1981 the aircraft lost cabin pressure during a flight from Taipei (TSA) to Kaohsiung (KHH) in Taiwan.
On August 22, 1981, the aircraft took off from Taipei on a flight to Makung (MZG). Ten minutes after takeoff from there was a loss of cabin pressure. The flight crew returned to Taipei, where repair work was carried out. Later that day the aircraft entered service again as Flight 103 to Kaohsiung. Fourteen minutes after takeoff the aircraft suffered an explosive decompression and disintegrated in flight.

Probable Cause:

PROBABLE CAUSE: "Extensive corrosion damage in the lower fuselage structures, and at a number of locations there were corrosion penetrated through pits, holes and cracks due to intergranular corrosion and skin thinning exfoliation corrosion, and in addition, the possible existence of undetected cracks because of the great number of pressurization cycles of the aircraft (a total of 33,313 landings), interaction of these defects and the damage had so deteriorated that rapid fracture occurred at a certain flight altitude and pressure differential resulting rapid decompression and sudden break of passenger compartment floor beams and connecting frames, cutting control cables and electrical wiring. And eventually loss of power, loss of control, midair disintegration."

Classification:
Explosive decompression
Fuselage failure
Loss of control

Sources:
» NTSB/AAR-89/03
» Flight International 05 September 1981 (703)


Photos

photo of Boeing-737-222-B-2603
accident date: 22-08-1981
type: Boeing 737-222
registration: B-2603
 

Map
This map shows the airport of departure and the intended destination of the flight. The line between the airports does not display the exact flight path.
Distance from Taipei-Songshan Airport to Kaohsiung International Airport as the crow flies is 301 km (188 miles).
Accident location: Global; accuracy within tens or hundreds of kilometers.

This information is not presented as the Flight Safety Foundation or the Aviation Safety Network’s opinion as to the cause of the accident. It is preliminary and is based on the facts as they are known at this time.
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Boeing 737-200

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