Remembering China Airlines Flight 611

Today marks the 20th Anniversary of the midair break-up of China Airlines Flight 611 that killed 225 people, making it the worst air disaster to occur in Taiwanese territory. The crash happened over a month after South Korea's worst air disaster, where a Boeing 767 belonging to Mainland China's national carrier, Air China, crashed on a hill near Busan, killing 129 people. Keep in mind that China Airlines comes from Taiwan, which is where the original Republic of China was exiled to after losing the battle for the Chinese Mainland during the Chinese Civil War, hence the name China Airlines.

End of the Jumbo Jet Era

Let's face it. Bigger is not always better. Four-engined passenger jets are going out of fashion because efficiency is now the new king of commercial aviation, especially when the Boeing 787 and Airbus A350 are almost as prestigious as the Boeing 747-8 and Airbus A380, but with better fuel efficiency than the quad-engined behemoths. And this was already happening even before the current pandemic...