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| Date: | Thursday 13 February 2003 |
| Time: | 12:55 |
| Type: |  Boeing 747-246B |
| Owner/operator: | Japan Asia Airways (JAA) |
| Registration: | JA8129 |
| MSN: | 21678/361 |
| Year of manufacture: | 1979 |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 316 |
| Other fatalities: | 0 |
| Aircraft damage: | Minor, repaired |
| Category: | Serious incident |
| Location: | 180 NM Northwest of Naha, Philippine Sea -
 Pacific Ocean
|
| Phase: | Initial climb |
| Nature: | Passenger - Scheduled |
| Departure airport: | Tokyo-Narita Airport (NRT/RJAA) |
| Taipei-Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport (TPE/RCTP) | |
| Investigating agency: | AAIC |
| Confidence Rating: |  Accident investigation report completed and information captured |
On Thursday February 13, 2003, a Boeing 747-200B of Japan Asia Airlines (JAA), registration JA8129, departed New Tokyo International Airport at 10:39 JST as scheduled passenger flight 201 to Taipei International Airport. While the aircraft was climbing from flight level (FL) 260 to FL280 over the sea approximately 180 km northwest of Naha City, a loud bang accompanied by severe vibration occurred at around 12:55. Thereafter, a crew member discovered a hole in the cowling of the No. 2 (left inboard) engine. The aircraft diverted to Naha Airport, where it landed at 13:40. There were 316 persons on board flight 201 — 298 passengers, the Captain and 17 other crew members. There were no injuries to persons on board.
PROBABLE CAUSE
In this serious incident, it is estimated that while the aircraft was climbing, a fan blade in the No. 2 engine failed due to a fatigue crack and damaged the engine, with fragments of the fan blade being projected through the engine nose cowling.
It is estimated that a part of the fan blade was fatigue fractured because an arc burn caused microstructure changes and increased the brittleness of a small region of the trailing edge of the fan blade. Damage to that region then caused a crack, which led to a portion of the fan blade breaking off.
Accident investigation:
 |
|
Sources:
https://jtsb.mlit.go.jp/eng-air_report/JA8129.pdf
https://www.jetphotos.com/photo/143181 (Photo)
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 15-Apr-2025 18:54 | Justanormalperson | Added |
| 15-Apr-2025 18:56 | ASN | Updated [Narrative, Accident report, ] |
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