Singapore Airlines Flight 006 was an international scheduled passenger flight from Singapore Changi Airport to Los Angeles International Airport via Chiang Kai-shek International Airport (now known as Taoyuan International Airport) near Taipei, Taiwan. On 31 October 2000, at 23:18 Taipei local time (14:18 UTC), the Boeing 747-400 operating the flight attempted to take off from the wrong runway at Chiang Kai-shek International Airport during a typhoon. The aircraft crashed into construction equipment on the runway, killing 83 of the 179 people aboard. Ninety-eight occupants initially survived the accident, but two passengers died later from injuries in the hospital. This was the first fatal crash involving a Boeing 747-400, and also the first fatal accident in the history of Singapore Airlines.
Background
Aircraft
The aircraft involved was a Boeing 747-412, registered as 9V-SPK, powered by four Pratt & Whitney PW4056 engines. It was the 1,099th Boeing 747 built and its first flight was on 12 January 1997. The aircraft performed its last maintenance check on 16 September 2000 and had no defects during the inspection and at the time of the accident.
Crew
The pilot-in-command of the aircraft was Captain Foong Chee Kong (41), a Malaysian. He was an experienced pilot with a total of 11,235 flight hours, of which 2,017 were logged on the Boeing 747-400 aircraft. The co-pilot, First Officer Cyrano Latiff (36), had logged 2,442 total flight hours, including 552 hours on the Boeing 747-400. The third and non-operating crew member for this sector was a relief pilot, First Officer Ng Kheng Leng (38), with about 5,508 total flight hours, including 4,518 hours on the Boeing 747-400.
Accident
thumb|Diagram of Typhoon Xangsane's path
At 23:00 Taipei local time (14:00 UTC) on 31 October 2000, of Chiang Kai-shek International Airport during heavy rain caused by Typhoon Xangsane. At 23:05:57, ground control cleared the aircraft to taxi to runway 05L via taxiways SS, WC, and NP. The airport was not at the time equipped with ASDE, which is a ground radar that enables air traffic controllers to detect potential runway conflicts by providing very detailed coverage of movement on both runways and taxiways.
thumb|Diagram of Chiang Kai-shek International Airport and the taxi path of SQ006: The dotted green line indicates the intended route to Runway 05L. The yellow arrow indicates the path to Runway 05R. The red path is the way the pilots went.
Because visibility was poor in the heavy rain, the pilots did not see the construction equipment, including two excavators, two vibrating rollers, one small bulldozer, and one air compressor, The nose struck a scoop loader, causing a large fire, which destroyed the forward section of the fuselage and the wings. At 23:17:36, the emergency bell sounded and 41 firefighting vehicles, 58 ambulances, 9 lighting units, and 436 personnel were dispatched to assist survivors and extinguish the fire. Chemical extinguishing agents were deployed on the aircraft approximately three minutes after the impact. including three children and three infants, were on the aircraft. Of the 179 occupants, 83 were killed, 39 suffered from serious injuries, and 32 had minor injuries, while 25 were uninjured.
Nationalities of passengers and crew
{|class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center;"
!rowspan=2|Nationality|| colspan="3" |Passengers||colspan=3|Crew||colspan=3|Total
|-bgcolor=ccccff
!Total!!Died!!Survived!!Total!!Died!!Survived!!Total!!Died!!Survived
|-
|Australia||1||0||1||0||0||0||1||0||1
|-
|Cambodia||1||0||1||0||0||0||1||0||1
|-
|Canada||1||0||1||0||0||0||1||0||1
|-
|Germany||1||0||1||0||0||0||1||0||1
|-
|India||11||10||1||0||0||0||11||10||1
|-
|Indonesia||5||1||4||0||0||0||5||1||4
|-
|Ireland||1||0||1||0||0||0||1||0||1
|-
|Japan||1||1||0||0||0||0||1||1||0
|-
|Malaysia||8||4||4||1