Passengers 131 Injuries (non-fatal) 0 Aircraft type Boeing 737-300 Summary Pilot error Total fatalities 141 (all) | Crew 10 Survivors 0 Date 24 November 1992 Operator China Southern Airlines Survivor 0 | |
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Site 12.5 mi (20.1 km) south of Guilin Airport, China Destination Guilin Liangjiang International Airport Similar Pakistan International Airlines Fl, Thai Airways Internatio, China General Aviation F, Martinair Flight 495, Libyan Arab Airlines Fl | ||
China Southern Airlines Flight 3943 was a China Southern Airlines flight from the former Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport, Guangzhou to Guilin Qifengling Airport, Guilin, China on 24 November 1992. It crashed on descent to Guilin Airport, killing all 141 aboard.
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Aircraft
The aircraft involved in the accident was a Boeing 737-3Y0, registration B-2523, that was equipped with a twin CFMI CFM56-3B-1 powerplant. With serial number 24913, it had its maiden flight on 10 May 1991 and was delivered new to China Southern Airlines on 23 May the same year. The airframe was 7007487296000000000♠1 year and 198 days old at the time of the accident, and had logged 4,165 flight hours and 3,153 cycles.
Accident
Flight 3943 departed Guangzhou on a 55-minute flight to Guilin. During the descent towards Guilin, at an altitude of 7,000 feet (2,100 m), the captain attempted to level off the plane by raising the nose. The plane's autothrottle was engaged for descent, but the crew did not notice that the number 2 power lever was at idle. This led to an asymmetrical power condition. The airplane rolled to the right, and the crew was unable to regain control. At 07:52, the plane crashed into a mountain in the sparsely populated Guangxi region. It was the deadliest accident involving a Boeing 737-300 at the time, as well as the deadliest on Chinese soil; as of June 2013, it is still the second-deadliest accident in both of those categories, behind Flash Airlines Flight 604, and China Northwest Airlines Flight 2303 respectively. It is also the accident with the highest number of fatalities involving a China Southern Airlines aircraft.
Nationalities
There were 141 people on board, of whom 133 were passengers. The nationalities of the occupants of the aircraft were as follows: