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China Airlines Flight 334

1986 aircraft hijacking

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China Airlines Flight 334

B-198, the aircraft involved, at Changi Airport a year before the incident.
Hijacking
Date	May 3, 1986 (1986-05-03)
Summary	Hijacking
Site	Guangzhou Baiyun Airport, Guangdong, China
Aircraft
Aircraft type	Boeing 747-2R7F/SCD
Operator	China Airlines
Registration	B-198
Flight origin	Singapore Changi Airport
1st stopover	Don Mueang Airport, Bangkok, Thailand
2nd stopover	Kai Tak Airport, British Hong Kong
Destination	Chiang Kai-shek Airport, Taoyuan, Taiwan
Occupants	3
Passengers	0
Crew	3
Fatalities	0
Survivors	3

China Airlines Flight 334 was a Boeing 747-2R7F/SCD freighter aircraft that was hijacked by pilot Wang Hsi-chueh (Chinese: 王錫爵), a former military U-2 pilot, on May 3, 1986, while en route to Don Mueang, Thailand. Wang had left family members behind in China when he left for Taiwan in 1949 and had met some of them in Hong Kong in 1984. He decided to defect in order to reunite with his family in China.^[1] Wang managed to subdue the two other crew members and changed course to land the 747 in Guangzhou, where he defected to the People's Republic of China. The incident forced the Chiang Ching-kuo government in Taiwan to reverse its Three Noes policy in regard to contacting the communist government in mainland China, and Chiang dispatched several delegates to Hong Kong to negotiate with mainland officials for the return of the aircraft and crew. The incident was credited as a catalyst in renewing cross-strait relations between mainland China and Taiwan.^[2][3]

Aircraft[edit]

The aircraft was a Boeing 747-2R7F/SCD freighter,^{[note 1]} registration B-198, built in September 1980 originally for Cargolux (as LX-ECV "City of Esch-sur-Alzette"). The ROC Ministry of Transportation Civil Aviation Authority acquired the aircraft in June 1985 and then leased it to China Airlines. On 29 December 1991, this aircraft, later operating as China Airlines Flight 358, crashed into the side of a hill near Wanli, Taiwan after the separation of its number three and four engines, killing all five crew on board.

Incident[edit]

The following times are all in the Beijing/Taipei/Hong Kong time zone (UTC+8).

May 3[edit]

• 5:50 AM: China Airlines freighter aircraft took off from Singapore, headed for Bangkok.
• 2:40 PM: China Airlines freighter aircraft flew pass the IDOSI reporting point, about 120 nautical miles (220 km) to the southeast of Hong Kong. It followed orders from Hong Kong Air Traffic Control and descended from 33,000 feet (10,000 m).
• 2:45 PM: Wang Hsi-chueh (王錫爵) attacked Tung Kuang-hsing (董光興) with an emergency axe, and also subdued and handcuffed him.
• 2:50 PM: Chiu Ming-chih (邱明志; Qiū Míngzhì), who came back from the restroom, started to fight with Wang.
• 2:50 PM: Hong Kong ATC, upon discovering that China Airlines 334 has not descended to the appropriate height, ordered it to descend.
• 3:00 PM: About 50 nmi (93 km) from Hong Kong FLIR, Wang began calling Guangzhou Baiyun airport control tower, to the surprise of Hong Kong ATC. The ATC staff requested the final landing destination. At this point the aircraft was at about 15,000 feet (4,600 m).
• 3:07 PM: Scheduled arrival time at Hong Kong Kai Tak; HK ATC observes the plane continued to fly north.
• 3:08 PM: Another crew member threatened to cause a dangerous situation on the plane. A stall warning was issued at altitude 4,500 feet (1,400 m) AMSL. Chiu raised the flaps, risking crashing into the sea.
• 3:13 PM: Wang received flight assistance through official Chinese civil aviation, who called Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport.
• 3:45–3:50 PM: Plane landed and pilots were apprehended, giving conflicting stories.

Aftermath[edit]

The plane, its cargo, and the two crew who did not defect, the co-pilot and a technician, were turned over to Taiwanese authorities on May 24, 1986, at Hong Kong's Kai Tak airport. ^[4] By forcing the ROC (Taiwan) to communicate with PRC (China), Flight 334 was the first step in the thawing of relations. It effectively ended the Three Noes policy and ultimately led to the reunification of families across the straits a year later and has led to officially establishing the Three Links that were originally outlined in a 1979 PRC proposal by 2008. In 1987 the ROC officially ended martial law.

The accident aircraft in question, under flight number 358, would eventually crash after takeoff when the right side engines on the aircraft separated on 29 December 1991, killing all five crew on board.

Notes[edit]

References[edit]