The Story Of China Eastern Airlines Flight 583

On April 6th, 1993, China Eastern Airlines Flight 583 was forced to make an emergency landing in the Aleutian Islands following an accidental slat deployment. The aircraft, a two-year-old McDonnell-Douglas MD-11 with the registration number B-2171, was on a regularly scheduled flight between Shanghai-Hongqiao Airport (SHA) in China and Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) in the United States of America when the incident took place.

Flight 583 had to make an emergency landing at an American Air Force Base in the Aleutian Islands. Image: GCmaps

While cruising high above the Pacific Ocean at Mach 0.84, one of the cockpit crew accidentally deployed the slats near the Aleutian Islands. Similar to how flaps operate on the trailing edge of a wing, slats are extendable lift devices on the wing’s leading edge and should only be deployed during takeoffs and landings.

The plane violently pitched after the slats deployed

The automatic pilot disengaged as the slats extended on flight 583, leaving the plane’s captain to manually control the aircraft as it underwent several severe pitch oscillations. By the time the aircraft had stabilized, it had lost 5,000 feet of altitude. The captain immediately declared an emergency due to injuries onboard and diverted the plane to Shemya Air Force Base in Shemya, Alaska.

When the slats accidentally deployed the plane pitched up and down violently while the captain tried to get it under control. Photo: Kambui via Wikipedia Commons

Of the 255 passengers and crew onboard, 60 had to be taken to the hospital, where two of the most seriously injured later died. Seven of the cockpit crew and flight attendants received injuries and needed medical attention. By April 24, 1993, all but three passengers had recovered from their injuries and were discharged from the hospital.

Douglas was blamed for the poor design of the flap/slat actuation handle

Investigators who were looking into what might have caused the slats to deploy determined that the most probable cause was the inadequate design of the flap/slat actuation handle. When the Douglas Aircraft Company built the plane, they allowed the handle to be not knowingly dislodged from the UP/RET position while cruising. They also said that a contributing factor to the severe oscillations was a lack of specific MD-11 training about recovering from high-altitude upsets. Most of the injuries resulted from passengers and crew not having their seatbelts fastened.

About the McDonnell Douglas MD-11

Based on development studies of the DC-10, the McDonnell Douglas MD-11 is an American tri-jet widebody airliner. While similar to the DC-10, the MD-11 has a stretched fuselage and larger wings with winglets. It also has newer GE CF6-80C2 or Pratt & Whitney PW4460 jet engines built using more composites.

The aircraft made its maiden flight on January 10, 1990, and was FAA-certified nine months later. Finnair was the launch customer for the plane entering service with the airline on December 20, 1990.

McDonnell Douglas initially estimated that they would sell 300 MD-11s, but in the end, only 200 were built, with the last one rolling off the assembly line in 2000. While the MD-11 is no longer used as a passenger aircraft, many were converted into freighters and are still flying today.

Did you ever get to fly on a China Eastern Airlines McDonnell Douglas MD-11? If so, please tell us what you thought of the plane in the comments.

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