Transmeridian Air Cargo Flight 3751
Canadair CL-44D4-2 · Structural failure after engine fire
From Kai Tak Airport, Hong Kong to Don Mueang International Airport (DMK)
Event
- Event typeAccident: someone killed or seriously injured, or the aircraft substantially damaged (NTSB definition). Incident: an occurrence that affected or could have affected safety, short of that. Glossary
- Accident
- Event fatalities
- 4 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- Unknown
- Occupants
- Unknown
- Survivors
- 0
- InjuriesFatal: death within 30 days. Serious: over 48 hours in hospital within a week, most broken bones, severe bleeding, nerve or organ damage, or serious burns. Minor: anything less. Glossary
- Unknown
- OperationWhat kind of flying it was, grouped by the rules it flew under: airline (US Part 121), air taxi and commuter (Part 135), general aviation (Part 91 and similar), military or government. Glossary
- Airline
Canadair CL-44D4-2
- Aircraft type
- Canadair CL-44
- Category
- Airplane · from aircraft type
- RegistrationThe aircraft's tail number, such as N12345 or G-ABCD. Registrations are reissued, so the same one years apart can be a different aircraft. Glossary
- G-ATZH
- Operator
- Transmeridian Air Cargo
- Onboard fatalities
- 4
- Route
- From Kai Tak Airport, Hong KongTo Don Mueang International Airport (DMK)
Cause areas
- Aircraft › Aircraft power plant
From the investigation findings the Wikipedia article reports, sorted into the NTSB's cause areas with AI assistance.
Approximate · Coordinates from the Wikipedia article; not checked against an investigation report.
From the Wikipedia article
Transmeridian Air Cargo Flight 3751 (flight number: KK3751) was a cargo flight operated by the British Transmeridian Air Cargo from Hong Kong to Bangkok on 2 September 1977. A serious aviation accident occurred on this flight when the Canadair CL-44D4-2 operating it broke apart shortly after takeoff and crashed into the sea. The aircraft's four-member crew died in the accident.
Accident sequence
The aircraft was to operate an intercontinental flight from Hong Kong to the United Kingdom. Several intermediate stops were planned, of which Bangkok was the first. The crew received clearance for takeoff from runway 13 of Kai Tak Airport and lifted off at night. Immediately after the aircraft's takeoff at 08:30 local time, engine No. 4 suffered a failure. Eyewitnesses reported visible trails of smoke coming from this engine. A fire developed. Just one minute after takeoff, the pilots requested clearance for an emergency landing on runway 31. They feathered the propeller, but the fire continued to spread. The pilots received clearance to descend to 2,000 feet. The next moment, and only eight minutes after takeoff, the aircraft crashed into the South China Sea near Waglan Island after a loss of control, killing all four crew members.
Investigation and cause
Causes
It was determined that the aircraft had crashed into the sea after a loss of control, after engine No. 4, together with the end of the right wing, had broken off the aircraft as a result of the spreading fire. This was said to have followed a failure of engine No. 4, a fire inside the engine and a fire in the fuel system, which eventually developed into a massive external fire.
Translated into English with AI assistance from the German Wikipedia article “Transmeridian-Air-Cargo-Flug 3751” (revision 264753158, retrieved 2026-09-19) by its authors, under CC BY-SA 4.0. Extracted as plain text: references, tables, images and some sections are left out; the translation may contain errors, and long articles were cut to their first 700 words. Read the article
Sources
German Wikipedia article: Transmeridian-Air-Cargo-Flug 3751
- Translation
- Into English with AI assistance; names of linked operators and aircraft types from Wikidata. It may contain errors.
- Revision
- 264753158 · 2026-02-26 · retrieved 2026-09-19
- Wikidata
- Q97632980
- Licence
- Text CC BY-SA 4.0, by the article's authors; Wikidata CC0; town positions GeoNames (CC BY 4.0)
Where each value comes from
- Record
- de Wikipedia article "Transmeridian-Air-Cargo-Flug 3751" (page 11388939, revision 264753158), translated into English with AI assistance
- Date
- Wikipedia infobox: date
- Place and country
- Wikipedia infobox: site
- Map position
- Wikipedia article coordinates
- Aircraft, operator and route
- Wikipedia infobox: aircraft type, registration, operator, origin and destination; route airports from the linked airport articles' Wikidata codes (OurAirports)
- Operation
- flight number in the article title
- Fatalities
- Wikipedia infobox: aircraft fatalities
- Ground fatalities
- not stated in the Wikipedia infobox
- Summary
- Wikipedia article lead
Source notes (1)
- Wikipedia · Facts from the German Wikipedia article's infobox, translated into English with AI assistance, not checked against an investigation report. Independent review pending.