Singapore Airlines 006, 31 October 2000
A 747-412 took off on closed runway 05R at Taipei during Typhoon Xangsane and struck construction equipment. 83 of 179 aboard died.
On 31 October 2000, Singapore Airlines Flight 006 began its takeoff roll on the wrong runway at Taipei’s Taoyuan airport and struck construction machinery. 83 of the 179 people aboard died; 96 survived, two of whom died later of burns.
The aircraft was 9V-SPK, a Boeing 747-412. It was Singapore Airlines’ first fatal accident.
What happened
The aircraft was cleared for runway 05L. It lined up on 05R — a parallel runway that was closed for construction, with excavators, rollers and other equipment on it.
The weather was Typhoon Xangsane. Visibility was very poor, and the crew could not see the machinery ahead of them.
The disagreement about why
The two investigating authorities did not agree, and both positions are worth stating.
Taiwan’s Aviation Safety Council attributed the accident to crew error: the crew did not adequately review the taxi route, and did not confirm from their own instruments that the aircraft was aligned with the correct runway before applying takeoff thrust.
Singapore’s Ministry of Transport disputed the emphasis, pointing out that the airport had no ground movement radar, that the aircraft was out of sight of the tower in the weather, and that the closed runway lacked adequate markings and barriers indicating it was out of use.
Both descriptions are true. The crew made the error; the airport gave them every opportunity to make it and no means of catching it.
Why it is instructive
Runway confusion is a persistent hazard, and it is rarely about competence. It happens at night, in weather, on unfamiliar airfields, when a taxi route crosses a parallel runway — and the defences against it are mostly environmental rather than human: ground radar, clear markings, physical barriers on closed runways, and cockpit position displays.
Modern airport moving-map displays, which show the aircraft’s own position on the airfield, exist precisely for this. The 747-8’s flight deck includes one.
The flight number was changed from SQ006 to SQ30 two weeks afterwards.
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El Al 1862, Amsterdam, 4 October 1992
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