Flight 4146 was a scheduled domestic passenger flight from Beijing Capital International Airport, Beijing to Chongqing Airport, Chongqing, with 98 passengers and a crew of ten on board. The en route flight was uneventful until 21:50, but when the aircraft had neared Chongqing, the aircraft's Number Four engine (the outer engine on the right wing) caught fire. The fire burned the engine mount and the engine fell off the aircraft's wing. This caused a loss of control. Flight 4146 hit a power line and two farmhouses before bursting into flames.[1] Everyone on board the Ilyushin Il-18 perished in the crash.[2] The occupants consisted of 104 Chinese, three Japanese, and one Briton.[1][3]
The engine fire was the result of an oil leak. The engine was shut down and its propeller feathered due to severe vibrations. However, the starter/generator fitted to the engine had overheated to such an extent that it had burnt the tube supplying oil at high pressure to feather the propeller. When the crew feathered the propeller, the tube burst and the leaking oil caught fire.[2]
Aftermath and cause
Not long after the crash of Flight 4146, the Civil Aviation Administration of China ordered safety checks that found mechanical problems leading to the grounding of at least 17 aircraft.[4]
The crash of Flight 4146 was blamed on poor maintenance.[5]
Nigeria Airways Flight 2120, another in flight fire that started when improperly maintained tires burst and caught fire on takeoff, killing 261 people.
^rotorcraft. "警世录：西南航空的1988，机械故障致飞机坠毁，108人无一生还" [Police record: Southwest Airlines' 1988, mechanical failure caused the plane to crash, 108 people survived]. www.bilibili.com (in Chinese). Retrieved 5 November 2021.
^"Safety fear bugs Chinese airline". New Straits Times. Singapore. 1 September 1988. p. 13. Retrieved 10 August 2012 – via Google Newspapers.
^Gero, David (1996). Aviation Disasters Second Edition. Patrick Stephens Limited. p. 203.
