Thai Airways International Flight 601

Thai Airways International Flight 601

A Thai Airways International SUD-Aviation Caravelle similar to the one involved.
Accident
Date	30 June 1967 (1967-06-30)
Summary	Controlled flight into terrain due to pilot error and bad weather
Site	Near Kai Tak Airport, British Hong Kong 22°18′07″N 114°13′02″E
Aircraft
Aircraft type	Sud Aviation Caravelle III
Aircraft name	Chiraprapa
Operator	Thai Airways International
Registration	HS-TGI
Flight origin	Haneda Airport, Japan
1st stopover	Songshan Airport, Taiwan
Last stopover	Kai Tak Airport, British Hong Kong
Destination	Don Mueang Airport, Thailand
Occupants	80
Passengers	73
Crew	7
Fatalities	24
Injuries	3
Survivors	56

On 30 June 1967, Thai Airways International Flight 601, a Sud Aviation Caravelle III crashed into the sea on landing at the former Kai Tak Airport, Hong Kong, in a typhoon. The aircraft was on a flight from Haneda Airport in Japan to Don Mueang Airport in Thailand. The two stopovers were at Songshan Airport in Taiwan and Kai Tak Airport in British Hong Kong.

Background

Aircraft

The aircraft involved was a Sud Aviation SE-210 Caravelle III, MSN 25, registered as HS-TGI, which was manufactured by Sud Aviation in 1960. The aircraft had logged approximately 17350 airframe hours and was equipped with two Rolls-Royce Avon 527 engines.

Crew

The captain onboard flight 601 was Viggo Thorsen (43). He had 7,800 flight hours, with 3,700 being on the Caravelle. His first officer was 50 year older Sanit Khemanand. Of his 18,400 total flight hours, 2,300 were on the Caravelle.

Accident

Thai Airways International Flight 601 took off from Taipei Songshan Airport on an hour-long flight to Kai Tak Airport. The Sud Aviation Caravelle had 80 people aboard: 73 passengers and 7 crew. With the plane on ILS approach to runway 31 at Kai Tak, The crew became occupied trying to make visual contact with the ground. They failed to notice that the aircraft had descended below the decision height of 415 feet (126 m). The crew made an abrupt heading change (while already 80 feet (24 m) below the glide slope), and then entered a high-speed descent. The aircraft crashed into the sea, killing 24 passengers.

Kai Tak Airport in 1971, some four years after the crash of Flight 601.

Probable cause

The probable cause of the accident was pilot error, specifically not noticing that the aircraft had descended below the glide slope. The presence of strong wind shear and downdrafts as a result of then-present Typhoon Anita was a probable contributing factor. However, there were no means of detecting such weather phenomena at the time of the accident. Further factors included:

• The pilots did not adhere to Thai Airways procedure for a captain-monitored Instrument approach in bad visibility.
• The captain did not monitor the approach adequately.
• The abrupt heading change after the aircraft descended below minimum altitude may have exacerbated the high rate of descent.
• Downdrafts and wind shear may have contributed to the height loss that resulted from this mishandling.

References

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