China Eastern Airlines Flight 5210

2004 aviation accident

Not to be confused with China Eastern Airlines Flight 5510.

China Eastern Airlines Flight 5210

B-3072, the aircraft involved in the accident, whilst still in operation with China Yunnan Airlines

Accident
Date| 21 November 2004 (2004-11-21)
Summary| Atmospheric icing leading to loss of control
Site| Baotou Erliban Airport, Baotou, Inner Mongolia, China
40°39′03″N 109°50′31″E﻿ / ﻿40.65083°N 109.84194°E﻿ / 40.65083; 109.84194
Total fatalities| 55
Aircraft
Aircraft type| Bombardier CRJ200ER
Operator| China Eastern Yunnan Airlines
IATA flight No.| MU5210
ICAO flight No.| CES5210
Call sign| CHINA EASTERN 5210
Registration| B-3072
Flight origin| Baotou Erliban Airport
Stopover| Beijing Capital International Airport
Destination| Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport
Occupants| 53
Passengers| 47
Crew| 6
Fatalities| 53
Survivors| 0
Ground casualties
Ground fatalities| 2

China Eastern Airlines Flight 5210 (CES5210/MU5210), also known as the Baotou Air Disaster, was a flight from Baotou Erliban Airport in Inner Mongolia, China, to Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport, with a planned stopover at Beijing Capital International Airport. On 21 November 2004, just two minutes after takeoff, the Bombardier CRJ200ER fell from the sky and crashed into a lake in Nanhai Park, next to the airport, killing all 53 people on board and two more on the ground.[1]

An investigation by the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) revealed that the plane had not been deiced by the ground crew while it was parked on the tarmac. Ice accumulation on the wings caused the plane to lose its lift, causing the crash. It is the deadliest accident involving a CRJ100/200 series, and was the deadliest in China Eastern Airlines' history at that time until the crash of Flight 5735 on 21 March 2022, which killed 132 crew and passengers.[1][2]

## Accident

[edit]

Flight 5210 was operated by a Bombardier CRJ200ER, SN 7697, which was powered by two General Electric CF34-3B1 engines, which was delivered in November 2002, two years prior to the crash. At the time of the accident, the plane was still painted with China Yunnan Airlines livery, despite the airline having merged with China Eastern Airlines in 2003. The plane took off at 08:21 local time, 15 minutes ahead of schedule, carrying 47 passengers and six crew members. 10 seconds after taking off, the airplane shook for several seconds and then fell to the ground. The plane skidded through a park and crashed into a house, a park ticketing station, and a port, setting fire to several moored yachts. It then plunged into an icy lake. All 53 people on board and two park employees on the ground were killed in the crash.[1]

### Search and rescue

[edit]

Chinese leaders Hu Jintao, Wen Jiabao and Huang Ju, ordered an immediate rescue operation.[3] More than 100 firefighters were dispatched to the crash site. Also sent to the disaster site were 250 police officers, 50 park staff, and 20 divers. Rescuers had to break through the ice to retrieve bodies. By the end of the day, crews had recovered 36 bodies from the frozen lake. According to a doctor who worked in a nearby hospital, rescuers had only recovered bodily organs and intestines of victims.[4]

Rescue efforts were hampered by the low temperatures. By the day after the crash, most of the plane had been recovered from the lake. A team of rescue experts from the Ministry of Communications' Maritime Bureau also arrived at the crash site on 22 November.[5] On 24 November, investigators located the cockpit voice recorder (CVR) and the flight data recorder (FDR) by the radio pings that the devices emitted.[6][7]

## Passengers and crew

[edit]

On 23 November, the flight's passenger manifest was released by China Eastern officials. Of the 47 passengers on board, 46 were Chinese. Officials confirmed that only one foreigner was on board, from Indonesia.[8] The flight crew members were identified as Captain Wang Pin (Chinese: 王品) (33), Vice Captain Yang Guang (Chinese: 杨光) (37), and First Officer Yi Qinwei (Chinese: 易沁炜) (27), plus two flight attendants and a security officer.[9]

## Investigation

[edit]

Many witnesses stated that the plane shook for several seconds, and then exploded in midair. According to one witness, a blast occurred at the tail of the plane. Smoke began to pour from the plane before it crashed into the park, becoming a fireball, and then skidded across the park and into the lake. Others claimed that the plane exploded into "flaming fragments" in the air before it crashed.[10]

The crash occurred just three months after the bombing of a Tupolev Tu-154 and a Tupolev Tu-134 over Russia, which killed 90 people. At the time, investigators of the Russian bombings found traces of explosives aboard the two planes. Investigators at the crash of Flight 5120, however, stated that they did not find any evidence of terrorism, according to state-run news agency Xinhua.[10]

The crash was also just one month after Pinnacle Airlines Flight 3701, which also involved a CRJ200, prompting the Civil Aviation Administration of China to ground all CRJ200's for one month, until no technical faults with the aircraft were determined.[11][12]

Weather at the time of the crash was good, although the temperature was below 0 °C (32 °F). A resulting hypothesis that ice particles in the fuel caused the disaster was later disproven.

Further investigation revealed that the accident aircraft had been parked overnight at Baotou Airport in cold weather, causing a layer of frost to form on its exterior. The aircraft was also not deiced prior to the flight. During takeoff, the frost contamination severely degraded aerodynamic performance, and as the jet rotated, it entered a stall from which the flight crew was unable to recover.

## Aftermath

[edit]

In 2006, 12 China Eastern Airlines employees were found to be responsible for the accident and received administrative punishment.[1]

Flight 5210 was the deadliest plane crash in the airline's history until the crash of Flight 5735 in 2022 which killed 132.[citation needed]

## References

[edit]

1. ^ a b c d Accident description at the Aviation Safety Network
2. ^ Ranter, Harro. "ASN Aviation Safety Database results". aviation-safety.net. Aviation Safety Network. Archived from the original on 25 April 2019. Retrieved 25 April 2019.
3. ^ 胡锦涛温家宝黄菊就东航坠机事件作出重要指示 [Hu Jintao, Wen Jiabao, Huang Ju made important instructions on the crash of China Eastern Airlines] (in Chinese). People's Daily. 22 November 2004. Archived from the original on 6 December 2017. Retrieved 16 July 2017.
4. ^ 苍天无情 人间有爱—写在“11·21”空难发生后 [Heaven is ruthless, there is love in the world - written after the "11. 21" air crash] (in Chinese). People's Daily. 24 November 2004. Archived from the original on 6 December 2017. Retrieved 16 July 2017.
5. ^ 民航总局：包头空难调查结果要经得起历史鉴定 [Civil Aviation Administration of China: Baotou air crash investigation results must withstand historical appraisal] (in Chinese). People's Daily. 23 November 2004. Archived from the original on 6 December 2017. Retrieved 16 July 2017.
6. ^ 千呼万唤始出来 包头空难“黑匣子”打捞侧记 [Thousands of calls come out. Baotou air crash "black box" salvage side note] (in Chinese). People's Daily. 24 November 2004. Archived from the original on 6 December 2017. Retrieved 16 July 2017.
7. ^ 飞机“黑匣子”是橙红色的 重约20–30公斤 [The aircraft "black box" is orange-red and weighs about 20–30 kg.] (in Chinese). People's Daily. 24 November 2004. Archived from the original on 6 December 2017. Retrieved 12 July 2017.
8. ^ "China plane crash kills 54". CNN. 22 November 2004. Archived from the original on 6 December 2017. Retrieved 12 July 2017.
9. ^ "包头客机坠毁：东航云南公司失事机组人员名单" [Baotou passenger plane crash: List of crew members of China Eastern Airlines Yunnan Company]. www.qq.com (in Chinese). 21 November 2004. Archived from the original on 7 February 2005. Retrieved 8 April 2023.
10. ^ a b "China: No evidence terrorism downed plane". NBC News. NBC. Associated Press. 20 November 2004. Archived from the original on 2 November 2018. Retrieved 12 July 2017.
11. ^ "国内18架庞巴迪飞机适航 民航总局决定恢复运行" [18 domestic Bombardier aircraft are airworthy and CAAC decides to resume operation] (in Chinese). 24 December 2004. Archived from the original on 10 August 2014. Retrieved 27 April 2021.
12. ^ "包头空难阴影未消 CRJ-200复飞上座率大跌" [The shadow of the Baotou air crash has not disappeared, and the occupancy rate of CRJ-200's go-around has plummeted]. 6 January 2005. Archived from the original on 10 August 2014. Retrieved 20 October 2012.

## External links

[edit]

* China portal
* Aviation portal

* Topic on "11.21 Air Disaster" Archived 18 February 2007 at the Wayback Machine from People's Daily (in simplified Chinese)]
* Accident database from airdisaster.com[usurped]
* Accident aircraft photos from airliners.net

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Aviation accidents and incidents in 2004 (2004)

Jan 3

Flash Airlines Flight 604

Jan 13

Uzbekistan Airways Flight 1154

Feb 10

Kish Air Flight 7170

May 14

Rico Linhas Aéreas Flight 4815

Jun 8

Gabon Express Flight 221

Jun 29

Northwest Airlines Flight 327

Aug 13

Air Tahoma Flight 185

Aug 24

Russian aircraft bombings

Oct 14

Pinnacle Airlines Flight 3701

Oct 14

MK Airlines Flight 1602

Oct 19

Corporate Airlines Flight 5966

Oct 24

Hendrick Motorsports aircraft crash

Nov 21

China Eastern Airlines Flight 5210

Nov 27

Blackwater 61 crash

Nov 30

Lion Air Flight 538

2003  ◄ ► 2005

* v
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Aviation accidents and incidents in China

Before
1950|

* Beijing-Han Airlines crash (March 1922)
* Jinan air crash (November 1931)
* Kweilin Incident (August 1938)
* Chungking Incident (October 1940)
* Beiping (Beijing) C-46 crash (October 1945)
* United States Air Force C-47 crash at Yan'an (April 1946)
* Miss Macao (July 1948)

1950s–
1970s|

* Cathay Pacific Douglas DC-4 shootdown (July 1954)
* Lin Biao incident (September 1971)

1980s|

* CAAC Flight 3303 (April 1982)
* CAAC Flight 2311 (December 1982)
* CAAC Flight 296 (May 1983)
* Guilin Airport collision (September 1983)
* CAAC Flight 5109 (January 1985)
* Aeroflot Flight 101/435 (December 1985)
* China Airlines Flight 334 (May 1986)
* China Southwest Airlines Flight 4146 (January 1988)
* China Eastern Airlines Flight 5510 (August 1989)

1990s|

* Guangzhou Baiyun airport collisions (October 1990)
* China General Aviation Flight 7552 (July 1992)
* China Southern Airlines Flight 3943 (November 1992)
* China Northwest Airlines Flight 2119 (July 1993)
* China Eastern Airlines Flight 5398 (October 1993)
* China Northern Airlines Flight 6901 (November 1993)
* China Northwest Airlines Flight 2303 (June 1994)
* China Southern Airlines Flight 3456 (May 1997)
* China Southwest Airlines Flight 4509 (February 1999)
* Korean Air Cargo Flight 6316 (April 1999)

2000s|

* Wuhan Airlines Flight 343 (June 2000)
* Hainan Island incident (April 2001)
* China Northern Airlines Flight 6136 (May 2002)
* China Eastern Airlines Flight 5210 (November 2004)
* PLAAF KJ-200 crash (June 2006)
* Avient Aviation Flight 324 (November 2009)

2010s|

* Henan Airlines Flight 8387 (August 2010)
* Tianjin Airlines Flight 7554 (June 2012)
* Sichuan Airlines Flight 8633 (May 2018)

2020s|

* China Eastern Airlines Flight 5735 (March 2022)
* Tibet Airlines Flight 9833 (May 2022)

Accidents and incidents in Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan are not included.

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China Eastern Airlines

SkyTeam member

Services|

* List of China Eastern Airlines destinations
* Eastern Miles

Predecessor|

* CAAC Airlines

Acquisitions and mergers|

* Air Great Wall
* China General Aviation
* China Northwest Airlines
* China Yunnan Airlines
* Great Wall Airlines
* Shanghai Airlines Cargo
* Wuhan Airlines

Subsidiaries|

* Air France–KLM (9.6%)
* China Cargo Airlines
* China Eastern Yunnan Airlines
* China United Airlines
* Shanghai Airlines
* OTT Airlines (2020-2024)

Incidents and accidents|

* MU5510 (1989)
* MU583 (1993)
* MU5398 (1993)
* MU586 (1998)
* MU5210 (2004)
* MU5735 (2022)

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