China Eastern Airlines Flight 583

The National Transportation Safety Board report found that the handle used to actuate leading edge flap/slats was poorly designed, and captain likely moved this handle unintentionally while performing an unrelated task. This unexpected slat deployment caused the nose to pitch up. The pilot returned the handle to the correct position and, in an effort to correct the plane's pitch, pushed the control column forward with enough force to trigger the autopilot to disengage, thus causing an abrupt nose-down elevator movement. The plane continued to oscillate between nose up and nose down pitch due to the pilot's overcorrection of the elevator inputs until they were able to stabilize the plane's attitude. The violent pitching movement caused injuries to the occupants. At the time of the incident passengers were either not wearing seatbelts or had them loose, or were standing in the aisle, exacerbating the number and extent of injuries.

Other contributing factors included the lack of pilot training in high altitude upset recovery, the light control force characteristics at cruising altitude, and the influence of the stall warning system engaging and disengaging during the oscillations on the pilot's control inputs.[3]

The aircraft, operating for Sky Lease Cargo, under the registration of N951AR

The airframe was repaired and continued to operate for China Eastern until March 2005, when it was converted as a cargo freighter for China Cargo Airlines. In July 2010, it was redesignated as N951AR, later served for US-based Sky Lease Cargo, but was eventually scrapped in November 2016.[5]

China Eastern still uses the flight number 583, although the flight now departs from nearby Shanghai Pudong International Airport using a Boeing 777.[6]

Michael Crichton used this incident as the basis of his novel Airframe.