The Boeing 747-400 was manufactured in January 1997 and underwent its last maintenance check on Sept 16. It had been raining for four straight days and Typhoon Xangsane delivered wind gusts of up to 165kmh. Inside, jittery passengers shuddered, some remembering the rough ride they had when landing at Chiang Kai-shek airport. At about 9.30pm, the plane had shaken violently as it arrived from Singapore. Barely two hours later, seconds after taking off, flight SQ006 crashed down and exploded, breaking into three large pieces.
Meteorologists refer to it as wind shear.
This sudden drop will cause a control problem and can cause the plane to crash. The weather at time of take-off was the equivalent of a Category 2 hurricane with winds blowing at more than 100kmh. To compound that, visibility was low because of the pelting rain. Survivors said they were surprised that the pilot, a man with more than 11,000 hours flight time, had decided to go ahead. An SIA spokesman said the decision to go ahead is shared by the pilot, the airline and the airport.