China Northwest Airlines Flight 2303 was a domestic flight from Xi'an to Guangzhou, People's Republic of China. On June 6, 1994, this aircraft, a Tupolev Tu-154M, broke up in-flight and crashed as a result of an autopilot malfunction which caused violent shaking and overstressed the airframe.

Accident

Approximately eight minutes after takeoff (ten minutes in some reports), the control tower at Xianyang Airport lost contact with the plane and it crashed in a field 18 miles southeast of the airport. All 146 passengers and 14 crew died. As of 2013, it remains the deadliest airplane crash ever to occur in mainland China.

Investigation

Flawed maintenance of the aircraft was the probable cause of the sequence of events. The previous evening, the autopilot yaw-channel had been erroneously connected to the bank control, and the bank-channel to the yaw controls. Additionally, this incorrect maintenance was not done in a properly approved facility.

Passengers

Among the passengers, 133 were from mainland China, four were from Italy, three were from Hong Kong, two from the United States, one was from Taiwan, and seventeen were from other countries.