On April 6, 1993, at 0110 Hawaiian Standard Time (HST), China Eastern Airlines flight 583 (CES583), a McDonnell Douglas MD-11, Chinese registration B-2171, a scheduled international passenger flight from Beijing, China, to Los Angeles, California, (LAX) with an intermediate stop in Shanghai, China, had an inadvertent deployment of the leading edge wing slats while in cruise flight, approximately 950 nautical miles south of Shemya, Alaska. The autopilot disconnected, and the captain was manually controlling the airplane when it progressed through several violent pitch oscillations and lost 5,000 feet of altitude. The captain regained stabilized flight, declared an emergency because of passenger injuries, and diverted to the U.S. Air Force Base, Shemya, Alaska. Of the 235 passengers and 20 crewmembers aboard the airplane, 2 passengers were fatally injured, and 149 passengers and 7 crewmembers received various injuries. The airplane received no external structural damage, but the passenger cabin interior was extensively damaged.
National Transportation Safety Board Aircraft Accident Report: Inadvertent In-Flight Slat Deployment, China Eastern Airlines Flight 583, McDonnell Douglas MD-11, B-2171, 950 Nautical Miles South of Shemya, Alaska, April 6, 1993
1993
78 pages
Report
No indication
English