Event ANC94IA037

Factual narrative

On March 4, 1994, at 1650 Alaska standard time, a Boeing 747- 200F, Taiwan registry B-160, operated by China Airlines, affected a rejected takeoff at Anchorage International Airport, Alaska, destroying 16 main tires, as it stopped on the runway. The cargo-only aircraft had initiated a takeoff roll on an IFR flight plan to San Francisco, when at approximately 60 knots, the pilot- in-command initiated an abort procedure. The flight was conducted under 14 CFR Part 129, in visual meteorological conditions. The Taiwanese Airline Transport Certificated pilot, First Officer and Flight Engineer were not injured and the airplane sustained minor damage. An FAA Operations Inspector (General Aviation), assigned by FSDO to accident response, arrived on scene of incident within 10 minutes, however, she did not direct the crew to secure either the cockpit voice recorder or the auxiliary power unit. Cockpit voice recorder information was lost by continuous recording for one hour until secured by NTSB. Inspector not familiar with transport accident investigations. In an interview conducted by the NTSB, the captain told investigators that he remained "position and hold for about 30 seconds" and when cleared for takeoff he stabilized the power at about 1.1 exhaust pressure ratios (EPRs) and released the parking brake. He said he selected auto-throttle takeoff and the throttles advanced toward a target EPR of 1.54. Shortly into his takeoff roll, at around 60 knots, he told of being alerted to a cockpit instrument caution message that read "ANTI-SKID HYD", and noticed, in his words, "the parking brake had come back on." The captain stated that he did not use reverse thrust to stop on the runway. At the time of the incident, runway 32 conditions were patchy snow and ice. Tire scuff marks originate from the point at the runway numbers where the takeoff was initiated and continue to about 2000 feet where they turn to wide rubber heat transfer marks. The aircraft came to rest on the runway after approximately 3500 feet of travel. THE B747 BEGAN TAKEOFF ROLL WITH PARKING BRAKE ENGAGED. THE RUNWAY WAS COVERED WITH PATCHES OF ICE, AT APPROXIMATELY 60 KNOTS, DURING ENGINE ACCELLERATION IN AUTOTHROTTLE MODE, A CAUTION PANEL WARNING LIGHT INDICATED PARKING VALVE WAS NOT OPEN. THE PILOT REJECTED TAKEOFF; HOWEVER, 16 MAIN TIRES BLEW OUT AND GROUND DOWN THE WHEELS TO THE OLEOS AS THEY DRAGGED ON DRY PAVEMENT. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12