McDonnell Douglas MD-90-30 – B-17912

Incident Overview

Date: Tuesday 24 August 1999

Aircraft Type: McDonnell Douglas MD-90-30

Owner/operator: Uni Air

Registration Number: B-17912

Location: Hualien Airport (HUN) – ÿ Taiwan

Phase of Flight: Landing

Status: Destroyed, written off

Casualties: Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 96

Component Affected: Aircraft Stowage BinAircraft Stowage Bin

Category: Accident

On July 26, 2003, an aviation incident occurred at Hualien Airport involving an MD-90 aircraft. During a 25-minute flight, a loud noise was reported, followed by thick black smoke emanating from a luggage compartment on the right side of the plane. Passengers were evacuated, but a fire quickly spread, resulting in 28 injuries. Investigation revealed that the fire was caused by a mixture of household bleach and softener bottles, which contained gasoline. Ku Chin-shui, a nephew of the defendant, had allegedly placed gasoline into the bottles and gave them to his uncle, who then leaked the gasoline during the flight. The gasoline ignited a short circuit in a nearby motorbike battery, leading to a subsequent explosion. The incident highlighted deficiencies in the Civil Aviation Administration’s regulations, personnel training, and safety equipment, particularly regarding hazardous materials handling and detection. The prosecution case against Ku Chin-shui was significantly weakened by the court’s decision to re-examine the case.On July 26, 2003, an aviation incident occurred at Hualien Airport involving an MD-90 aircraft. During a 25-minute flight, a loud noise was reported, followed by thick black smoke emanating from a luggage compartment on the right side of the plane. Passengers were evacuated, but a fire quickly spread, resulting in 28 injuries. Investigation revealed that the fire was caused by a mixture of household bleach and softener bottles, which contained gasoline. Ku Chin-shui, a nephew of the defendant, had allegedly placed gasoline into the bottles and gave them to his uncle, who then leaked the gasoline during the flight. The gasoline ignited a short circuit in a nearby motorbike battery, leading to a subsequent explosion. The incident highlighted deficiencies in the Civil Aviation Administration’s regulations, personnel training, and safety equipment, particularly regarding hazardous materials handling and detection. The prosecution case against Ku Chin-shui was significantly weakened by the court’s decision to re-examine the case.

Description

As the MD-90 touched down following a 25-minute flight from Taipeh, there was a loud noise from the front of the cabin and thick black smoke poured from one of the overhead luggage compartments on the right hand side of the plane. Insulation and charred luggage littered the runway. Passengers were swiftly evacuated, but it took firefighters more than half an hour to control the fire. Twenty-eight people were injured. Preliminary investigation reports in 1999 indicated that the blast was caused by two bottles of household bleach. However, the Hualien District Court judges decided the bottles contained gasoline. According to the judges, Ku Chin-shui had put the gasoline into two plastic bleach bottles and gave them to his nephew. The gasoline leaked during the flight and exploded when it caused a short-circuit in a motorbike battery in a nearby overhead luggage compartment. In July 2003 Ku appealed a seven-and-a-half-year prison term. Considering the prosecutor’s case against Ku to be full of holes, the Supreme Court ordered a retrial. PROBABLE CAUSE: “A flammable liquid (gasoline) inside bleach and softener bottles and sealed with silicone was carried on board the aircraft. A combustible vapor formed as the leaking gasoline filled the stowage bin, and the impact of the landing aircraft created a short in a battery. The short ignited the gasoline vapor and created the explosion. Contributing factors to the accident were: The Civil Aeronautical Administration Organic Regulations and its operational bylaws fail to designate any entity as responsible for hazardous materials.; The Aviation Police fail to properly recruit and train personnel, to include preparing training materials and evaluating training performance. Some new recruits were found to have not received any formal security check training, but instead were following instructions from senior inspectors. Consequently, new inspectors cannot be relied upon to identify hazardous materials.; The detectors and inspectors failed to detect the hazardous materials. The detectors used by the Aviation Police did not detect the banned motorcycle batteries, nor did security inspectors detect the liquid bleach, a banned corrosive substance.”

Primary Cause

A flammable liquid (gasoline) inside bleach and softener bottles and sealed with silicone was carried on board the aircraft.A flammable liquid (gasoline) inside bleach and softener bottles and sealed with silicone was carried on board the aircraft.

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