China Airlines B744 near Taipei on Mar 9th 2019, fuel emergency

Last Update: June 3, 2020 / 23:04:39 GMT/Zulu time

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Photo of China Airlines B-18211, Boeing 747-400 — China Airlines B-18211, Boeing 747-400 (Photo credit: Steven Weng / Flickr / License: CC by-sa)

Incident Facts

Date of incident
Mar 9, 2019

Classification
Incident

Airline
China Airlines

Flight number
CI-122

Departure
Taipei, Taiwan

Destination
Okinawa, Japan

Aircraft Registration
B-18211

Aircraft Type
Boeing 747-400

ICAO Type Designator
B744

A China Airlines Boeing 747-400, registration B-18211 performing flight CI-122 from Taipei (Taiwan) to Okinawa (Japan) with 361 passengers and 20 crew, was on approach to Okinawa's runway 18 about 64 minutes after departure from Taipei when the crew initiated a go around due to weather. The aircraft entered a hold for about 22 minutes to wait for weather improvement, then the crew decided to return to Taipei. The crew declared emergency reporting they were low on fuel and received priority. The aircraft landed safely back in Taipei about 100 minutes after the go around.

Taiwan's ASC reported, the event was rated an aviaton occurrence (editorial note: signifying the aircraft landed with less than required minimum fuel) and opened an investigation.

On Jun 3rd 2020 Taiwan's ASC released their executive summary of the final report and their final report in Chinese concluding the probable causes of the serious incident were:

The occurrence aircraft landed at Taoyuan International Airport in low fuel emergency condition was due to a combination of the unpredictable increasing taxi time during departure at Taoyuan International Airport, the flight crew conducted two times missed-approach during inbound to Naha
International Airport, and the special air traffic control characteristic of Naha International Airport approach procedure.

The ASC reported the aircraft was preparing for departure from Taipei's runway 05R with 65,220lbs of fuel and was taxiing for departure, when a runway inspection found a hole in the runway, the runway needed to be closed. The aircraft was reassigned runway 05L. The taxi for departure, as result of the runway closure, trippled however, 1220 lbs of fuel were burned in addition to the planned taxi fuel due to longer taxi time.

After about 50 minutes flight time the aircraft performed a RNAV (GNSS) approach to Naha's runway 18, joined the final approach, weather information indication 4000 meters visibility, cloud ceiling at 1200 feet. At Minimum Descent Altitude the autopilot and autothrottle were disconnected and the crew continued the descent manually. Heavy rain set in, the aircraft became high on the approach. Descending through 500 feet the crew initiated a go around as the approach was no longer stabilized. The crew decided to perform a second approach, positioned for another approach to runway 18 but aborted the approach again about 15 minutes after the first go around when the aircraft, still on autopilot and autothrottle, increased the rate of descent to 1376 fpm beyond the stabilized approach criteria. Following the second go around, with 35,200 lbs of fuel remaining. The crew discussed with Naha approach whether an ILS approach to runway 36 would be possible. When Naha Airport reported they would need time to bring the ILS up, the crew decided to return to Taipei about 7 minutes after aborting the second approach, at that point 32,400 lbs of fuel were remaining. ATC cleared the flight onto a heading of 220 degrees and climb to FL240, the crew requested FL280. The crew requested a further climb to FL320. While descending through 8000 feet towards Taipei the aircraft systems issued a low fuel warning, when the fuel quantity decreased through 8000 lbs. The crew immediately declared Mayday, were vectored for an ILS approach to Taipei's runway 05L and performed an automatic landing without further incident. Fuel remaining after landing was 6,800 lbs, which is below the required minimum fuel of 7975 lbs (editorial note: without the taxi delay the fuel remaining would have been more than 8000 lbs).

The ASC analysed that the crew had declared low fuel, which is not an emergency but indicates to ATC that no delay should occur, to Kobe (Japan) Air Traffic Control. Kobe advised Taipei ATC of the low fuel state, who also provided priority to the flight, providing the shortest possible route and enabling the aircraft to join the approach and final approach without delay without waiting for the crew to declare fuel emergency.

Metars Okinawa:
ROAH 091300Z 10013G23KT 060V130 4000 SHRA FEW007 SCT012 BKN025 19/17 Q1009=
ROAH 091240Z 10011G21KT 060V140 4000 SHRA FEW007 SCT012 BKN025 20/17 Q1010 RMK 1ST007 3CU012 6CU025 A2984=
ROAH 091230Z 09011G21KT 060V130 7000 SHRA FEW007 SCT012 BKN030 20/17 Q1010=
ROAH 091200Z 09013G23KT 060V120 6000 SHRA FEW007 SCT010 BKN035 19/17 Q1010=
ROAH 091144Z 10013KT 060V130 4500 SHRA FEW007 SCT010 BKN030 19/17 Q1011 RMK 1ST007 3CU010 7CU030 A2985=
ROAH 091134Z 10011KT 4000 +SHRA FEW008 BKN018 BKN025 19/17 Q1010 RMK 1ST008 5CU018 7CU025 A2985=
ROAH 091130Z 10011KT 2500 +SHRA FEW008 BKN018 BKN025 20/17 Q1010=
ROAH 091123Z 10011KT 2000 +SHRA FEW008 BKN012 BKN020 20/17 Q1011 RMK 1ST008 5CU012 7CU020 A2985=
ROAH 091118Z 11010KT 070V130 4000 +SHRA FEW008 BKN012 BKN020 20/17 Q1011 RMK 1ST008 5CU012 7CU020 A2986 MOD TURB OBS AT 1056Z 40NM NNE NHC BTN 11000FT AND 10000FT B738=
ROAH 091100Z 09010KT 050V130 9000 SHRA FEW008 BKN012 BKN020 20/17 Q1010=
ROAH 091030Z 10012G24KT 070V140 9000 SHRA FEW008 BKN012 BKN020 20/17 Q1010=
ROAH 091010Z 09013KT 050V140 9999 SHRA FEW010 BKN015 BKN025 20/17 Q1010 RMK 2CU010 5CU015 7CU025 A2984=
ROAH 091000Z 10013KT 050V120 9999 -SHRA FEW010 BKN015 BKN025 20/17 Q1010=
ROAH 090930Z 10011KT 060V140 9999 SHRA FEW010 BKN015 BKN030 20/17 Q1011=
ROAH 090904Z 10013KT 050V130 9999 SHRA FEW010 BKN015 BKN025 20/17 Q1011 RMK 2CU010 5CU015 7CU025 A2987=
ROAH 090900Z 10012KT 050V130 9999 -SHRA FEW010 BKN015 BKN025 20/17 Q1011=
ROAH 090830Z 09011KT 060V120 9999 -SHRA FEW010 SCT020 BKN030 20/17 Q1012=
ROAH 090815Z 08009KT 050V120 9999 -SHRA FEW010 SCT020 BKN025 20/17 Q1012 RMK 1CU010 4CU020 7CU025 A2990=
ROAH 090800Z 09009KT 050V120 5000 SHRA FEW010 SCT025 BKN035 20/17 Q1012=
ROAH 090739Z 10010G20KT 050V120 4000 SHRA FEW010 SCT030 BKN050 20/17 Q1012 RMK 1CU010 3CU030 5SC050 A2991=
ROAH 090733Z 11011KT 070V130 3000 +SHRA FEW010 SCT025 BKN050 20/17 Q1012 RMK 1CU010 4CU025 6SC050 A2990=
ROAH 090730Z 11011KT 070V130 8000 SHRA FEW010 SCT030 BKN050 20/17 Q1012=

Metars Taipei:
RCTP 091530Z 02007KT 5000 -RA SCT006 BKN008 BKN020 19/18 Q1011 TEMPO 4000 RA RMK A2987=
RCTP 091520Z 02006KT 5000 -RA SCT006 BKN008 BKN020 19/18 Q1011 TEMPO 4000 RA RMK A2986=
RCTP 091500Z 03006KT 8000 -RA SCT006 BKN008 BKN020 19/18 Q1011 TEMPO 5000 RA RMK A2987 RA AMT 0.2MM=
RCTP 091430Z 30004KT 230V040 8000 -RA SCT006 BKN008 BKN020 19/18 Q1011 NOSIG RMK A2987=
RCTP 091400Z 03005KT 8000 -RA SCT006 BKN010 BKN030 18/18 Q1011 NOSIG RMK A2987=
RCTP 091330Z 01004KT 8000 -RA SCT006 BKN010 BKN030 18/18 Q1011 NOSIG RMK A2988=
RCTP 091300Z 35004KT 6000 -RA SCT006 BKN010 BKN040 18/18 Q1011 NOSIG RMK A2988 RA AMT 1.0MM=
RCTP 091230Z 06007KT 020V080 6000 -RA SCT006 BKN010 BKN040 18/18 Q1011 NOSIG RMK A2988=
RCTP 091223Z 07007KT 5000 -RA SCT006 BKN010 BKN040 18/18 Q1011 NOSIG RMK A2986=
RCTP 091200Z 01006KT 4000 -RA BR SCT006 BKN010 BKN040 18/18 Q1012 NOSIG RMK A2989 RA AMT 0.8MM=
RCTP 091144Z 36005KT 4000 -RA BR SCT006 BKN020 BKN050 18/18 Q1011 NOSIG RMK A2988=
RCTP 091141Z 36005KT 5000 -RA SCT006 BKN020 BKN050 18/18 Q1011 TEMPO 4000 RA RMK A2987=
RCTP 091130Z 01004KT 7000 -RA FEW006 BKN020 BKN050 18/17 Q1011 TEMPO 4000 RA RMK A2986=
RCTP 091122Z 05003KT 020V090 6000 -RA FEW006 BKN020 BKN050 18/17 Q1010 NOSIG RMK A2985=
RCTP 091100Z 35005KT 330V040 4500 -RA SCT006 BKN010 BKN080 18/17 Q1010 NOSIG RMK A2984 RA AMT 1.0MM=
RCTP 091030Z 09007KT 060V130 4500 -RA SCT006 BKN010 BKN080 18/17 Q1009 NOSIG RMK A2981=
RCTP 091000Z 07007KT 3500 -RA SCT003 BKN006 BKN060 17/17 Q1010 NOSIG RMK A2983 RA AMT 2.0MM=
RCTP 090930Z 04005KT 4500 -RA SCT004 BKN006 BKN020 17/17 Q1011 RERA NOSIG RMK A2986=
RCTP 090925Z 04006KT 4500 -RA SCT004 BKN006 BKN020 17/17 Q1011 RERA NOSIG RMK A2986=
RCTP 090900Z 03008KT 4500 RA SCT005 BKN008 BKN030 17/17 Q1011 NOSIG RMK A2986 RA AMT 2.8MM=
RCTP 090830Z 02009KT 4500 RA SCT005 BKN008 BKN030 18/17 Q1011 TEMPO 1500 RA RMK R05 A2986=
RCTP 090822Z 36011KT 4000 RA SCT005 BKN008 BKN030 18/17 Q1011 TEMPO 1500 RA RMK A2986=
RCTP 090806Z 24005KT 2000 RA SCT005 BKN008 BKN030 18/18 Q1011 TEMPO 1500 RA RMK A2986=
RCTP 090800Z 25006KT 2500 RA SCT006 BKN010 BKN030 19/18 Q1011 TEMPO 1500 RA RMK R23 A2986 RA AMT 2.8MM=
RCTP 090730Z 22007KT 3500 RA SCT008 BKN014 BKN050 19/18 Q1010 NOSIG RMK A2985=
RCTP 090703Z 24005KT 3000 RA SCT006 BKN012 BKN050 19/18 Q1011 NOSIG RMK A2986=
RCTP 090700Z 24006KT 5000 -RA SCT006 BKN025 BKN060 19/18 Q1011 RERA NOSIG RMK A2986 RA AMT 2.8MM=