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This article focuses on investigations regarding fatigue cracks on fuselage of China Airlines Flight 611, a Boeing 747-200 that came apart at the top of climb on May 25, 2002. These cracks emanated from a repair of tail-strike damage that occurred in 1980. Investigators with Taiwan's Aviation Safety Council (ASC) believe that these cracks rapidly propagated forward and aft from the repair region and turned upward along the fuselage but they stop short of officially saying this initiated the accident. ASC has started the analysis phase of the investigation. In May 2001 China Airlines adopted Boeing's Repair Assessment Program which examines the effect of repairs on the fatigue life of pressurized fuselage structure.

Reports the governmental investigations on the explosion of the China Airlines Flight 611 in Taiwan. Analysis of the cockpit voice recorder; Observation of the spectrum analyzer; Assessment of the radar beacon transmission.

Reports the effort of China Airlines Boeing 747-209B to retrieve the wreckage of crashed jet of China Airlines in Taiwan Strait. Possibility of midair collision; Recovery of the major pieces of the airplane and the black boxes; Investigation made by the Aviation Safety Council of Taiwan.

Reports the recovery of cargo plane door of China Airlines Flight 611 in Taiwan. Investigation of the Aviation Safety Council on the recovered parts; Confirmation of fatigue cracks by the laboratory analysis; Use of three-dimensional reconstruction for the investigation.

Reports the factors affecting the explosion of the China Airlines Boeing 747-200 in Taiwan. Occurrence of fatigue cracks in the fuselage section; Derivation of the segment for scanning electron microscope analysis; Investigation on the fatigue weakness in the nose Section 41.