China Airlines Flight 120 crew identified, called 'heroes' for evacuation

The crew of China Airlines Flight 120, the Boeing 737-800 that burned on the ground at Naha, Okinawa earlier this week, are being called "heroes" by officials from China Airlines and the Taiwan government's Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA). All 157 passengers and eight crew evacuated safely from the aircraft, moments before the it exploded. The cabin was evacuated using emergency slides. The two pilots left the burning aircraft through a cockpit window. No one was seriously injured.

China Airlines publicly identified and praised the crew members from Taiwan once they returned to their homeland after the accident. They are:

• You Chien-kuo - captain
• Tseng Ta-wei - first officer
• Kang Li-mei - cabin chief
• Cheng Hsieh-jer - flight attendant
• Fan Jin-yao - flight attendant
• Chang Chia-wen - flight attendant
• Hung Kuan-lin - flight attendant

The sixth flight attendant, a Japanese national, has not been identified by name.

A spokesman for the Taiwan's CAA said, "Based on the information we have gathered, they evacuated all the passengers in accordance with the standard operation procedure, which requires that all passengers be evacuated within 90 seconds in the case of emergency."

Kudos to the crew of China Airlines Flight 120.

Related: Click here to view all posts on this blog about the China Airlines Flt 120 accident.

China Airlines Boeing 737-800 bursts into flames at Naha, Okinawa

A Boeing 737-800 aircraft operated by Taiwan's national flag carrier, China Airlines, caught fire several hours ago at Naha, Okinawa. China Airlines Flight 120 had just arrived from Taipei with 157 passengers and 8 crew members on board, according to news reports. It is not yet clear exactly what caused the fire, but the aircraft was evacuated safely. In news photos of the accident scene, a deployed evacuation slide is visible at the 1R door.

Early reports in the press suggested that several people, including some crew members, might not have escaped from the burning plane, but later statements from the Japanese Transport Ministry and China Airlines said that all 157 passengers had disembarked safely.

The CTV News quoted local broadcast journalists and a fire official at Naha who said that the two pilots and six flight attendants all made it off the burning aircraft alive, but that at least two crew members had been hospitalized. The crew were not identified by name.

CTV also quoted a Japanese Transport Ministry official who explained that "the fire started when the first engine below the main left wing exploded a minute after the aircraft entered its parking spot." (Note: I suspect that "first engine" is probably a simple translation error, and should have been "the number one engine.")

An article about the plane fire at Naha in the Sydney Morning Herald shows a dramatic photo of flames and black smoke billowing from the aircraft. The SMH article also has a link to a brief video of the accident scene.

[Photo Source]