- Date
- February 19, 1985, 10:16 local (18:16 UTC)
- Place
- San Francisco, CA
- Injuries
- 2 serious, 271 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Enroute
- Aircraft
- N4522VBoeing 747 SP-09
- Weather
- Instrument (IMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed
- Report
- Board-adopted at Board Meeting
- NTSB office
- Major Investigations Division
- FAA report
- 19850219077569A
- Case key
- 15830
From the NTSB’s public API. By law, NTSB reports can’t be used as evidence in lawsuits over the accident.
On this page
Sequence of events
NTSB’s coding before 2008: each occurrence and phase of flight, and the causes and factors under it. The codes are defined in NTSB’s coding manual.
Analysis
While abv a cloud layer (top at FL 370) nr the jet stream, autoplt was engaged & was in the performance mngmnt sys (pms)mode. The pms provided pitch guidance to hold FL 410, roll guidance to ailerons & spoilers for roll ctl & autothrottle to maint .85 mach (254 KIAS). Acft encountered clr air turbc & airspeed bgn to vary btn .84 & .88 mach. Pms bgn moving throttles fore & aft to hold .85 mach. Drg autothrottle adjustments, #4 eng thrust decreased & 'hung' at aprx 1.0 epr & airspeed bgn decreasing. Flt engineer atmtd to manually rcvr the #4 eng thrust, but did not close the bleed air vlv bfr adjusting the #4 throttle. The #4 eng remained at aprx 1.0 epr. As the acft slowed, autoplt trimmed to hold alt & hdg til the plt disengaged it. At that time, acft rolled/yawed rgt & entered an unctld dscnt into the clouds. As it broke out of the clouds at 11,000', crew rcvrd & lvld at 9500'. Drg dscnt/rcvry, acft was dmgd by accelleration forces & hi speed. There was evidence the plt was preoccupied with eng prblm, didn't monitor instruments & over-relied on autoplt.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N4522V
- Reported as
- Boeing 747 SP-09
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 4522V
- Airframe hours
- 10,193
- Engine
- P&W JT9D-7A, 46,150 lbs thrust, turbo fan
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Part 129
- Operator
- China Airlines, doing business as Sung Shan Airport
- Registered owner
- Wilmington Trust Company
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Transport
- Last inspection
- Continuous airworthiness · February 2, 1985 · 206 hours before
- Departed
- Taipei, OF
- Destination
- KLAX · Los Angeles, CA
- Flight plan
- IFR
Matched to the registry by N-number and the event date; the registry’s history has gaps, so older matches can be wrong. Compare the reported make and model.
Flight crew
As NTSB recorded them. NTSB leaves out names.
- Role
- Pilot
- Age
- 55
- Certificate
- Airline transport
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 1, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 15,494 total · 3,748 in this make and model · 254 in the last 90 days · 82 in the last 30 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Instrument (IMC) · Day
- Lowest ceiling
- 11,000 ft unknown
- Altimeter
- 29.00 inHg
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.