8/23/2007

China Airlines paints over name, logo on wreckage of jet at Naha Airport
MSN-Mainichi News; August 22, 2007 — China Airlines has painted over its name and logo on the wreckage of a passenger jet that exploded in flames at Naha Airport….
The airline painted over the name “China Airlines” on the left-hand side of the aircraft and the company’s logo on the plane’s tail fin. After the accident, photographs and video footage of the jet continued to appear in news reports, and the company apparently painted over the name and logo to limit further damage to its image…more...

By now everybody has seen video of the burning Chinese Airlines 737 that caught fire at Nara Airport in Okinawa Japan August 20. Painting over the logos of a crashed airliner is the standard business procedure for all airlines. However from what I hear, China Airlines—the flag carrier of Taiwan and run by the government—has the worst airline safety track record in the world and is ranked 87/87 in terms of safety. I guess they should just change their name to [redacted] Airlines®.

UPDATE: Yikes, here’s another boo-boo that AFP is now reporting: China Airlines plane forced to divert in Japan. The plane had to divert to another airport in central Japan late Wednesday after running low on fuel.

Here’s a great YouTube video of the explosion moments after the passengers escaped.

Official NHK video of the explosion…