- ACCIDENT DETAILS
Date: February 19, 1985
Time: 1015
Location: 300 nm NW of San Francisco, California
Operator: China Airlines (Taiwan)
Flight #: 006
Route: Taipei - Los Angeles
AC Type: Boeing B-747-SP-09
Registration: N4522V
cn / ln: 22805/564
Aboard: 274   (passengers:251  crew:23)
Fatalities: 0   (passengers:0  crew:0)
Ground: 0
Summary: The aircraft descended in an uncontrolable dive, from 41,000 to 9,500 ft. after the crew shut down an engine. The captain, preoccupied the malfunctioning engine, didn't properly monitor instruments and over relied on the autopilot and did not use his rudder to keep the plane from rolling . The autopilot disengaged after it could not handle the excessive roll caused by the shut down engine. The captain failed to make the proper flight corrections to recover the aircraft. After a terrifying series of inadvertent aerobatics, the plane leveled off at 9,500 feet and managed to land safely at San Francisco. Forces during the inverted spin were estimated to be from +6G to -4G. The landing gear was forced out through the closed doors, breaking the doors, which flew back and took out part of the rudder and elevator.
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