On 31 October 2000, at 11:18pm Taipei local time (2:18pm UTC), the Boeing 747-412 operating the flight attempted to take off from the wrong runway at Chiang Kai-shek International Airport during a typhoon.

[3] The pilot-in-command of the aircraft was Captain Foong Chee Kong (41) (Chinese: 方志剛; pinyin: Fāng Zhìgāng).

The third and nonoperating crew member for this sector was a relief pilot, First Officer Ng Kheng Leng (38) (simplified Chinese: 黄庆龙; traditional Chinese: 黃慶龍; pinyin: Huáng Qìnglóng), with about 5,508 total flight hours, including 4,518 hours logged on the Boeing 747-400.

[4] At 11:00pm Taipei local time (2:00pm UTC) on the 31st of October, 2000,[4] the aircraft left Bay B5[5] of Chiang Kai-shek International Airport during heavy rain caused by Typhoon Xangsane.

[7] Because visibility was poor in the heavy rain, the pilots did not see the construction equipment, including two excavators, two vibrating rollers, one small bulldozer, and one air compressor,[4] had been parked on runway 05R.

[8] The nose struck a scoop loader,[9] with a following large fire, destroying the forward section of the fuselage and the wings.

[10] At 23:17:36, the emergency bell sounded and 41 firefighting vehicles, 58 ambulances, 9 lighting units, and 436 personnel were dispatched to assist survivors and extinguish the fire.

[12] The captain, co-pilot, and relief pilot originated from Singapore on another SQ006 flight the day before the accident, rested at a hotel in Taipei, and boarded SQ006 on 31 October.

[4][16] Sixty-four of 76 passengers in the forward economy section were killed by the explosion of the centre fuel tank, which resulted in intense fire.

[29] Among passengers of other nationalities were the president and two vice-presidents of Buena Park, California-based Ameripec Inc.[30] A professor at UC Davis survived the crash with 12% second-degree burns.

The report section "Findings Related to Probable Causes", which detailed factors that played a major role in the circumstances leading to the accident, stated that the flight crew did not review the taxi route, despite having all the relevant charts, and as a result did not know the aircraft had entered the wrong runway.

According to the ASC, these errors, coupled with the imminent arrival of the typhoon and the poor weather conditions, caused the flight crew to lose situational awareness and led them to attempt to take off from the wrong runway.

The airline initially stated that reports of the aircraft taking the wrong runway were untrue before they were proven to be true.

[42] Singaporean officials protested that the report did not present a full account of the incident and was incomplete, as responsibility for the accident appeared to have been placed mainly on the flight crew of SQ006, while other equally valid contributing factors had been played down.

[42] The team from Singapore that participated in the investigation felt that the lighting and signage at the airport did not measure up to international standards.

The Singapore team felt that these two factors were given less weight than was proper, as another flight crew had almost made the same mistake of using runway 05R to take off days before the accident.

[43] The statement by Kay Yong (Chinese: 戎凱; pinyin: Rēng Kǎi), managing director of the Republic of China's Aviation Safety Council, implied that pilot error played a major role in the crash of the Boeing 747-400, which led to the deaths of 83 people.

[44] Runway 05R was not blocked off by barriers because part of the strip was used by landing planes to taxi back to the airport terminal.

[4] One survivor of the accident stated in a USA Today article that some of the cabin crew were unable to help the passengers escape from the aircraft because they were frozen by fear or lack of competence in emergency procedures; he was seated in the upper-deck business-class area.

[46] One story from the newspaper stated that a flight attendant[22] initially escaped the crash, but she ran back into the aircraft to attempt to save passengers, and died.

Only after 15 years did the airline introduce another special livery, this time on two of its Airbus A380s in conjunction with Singapore's 50th National Day celebrations.

IFALPA had previously stated that it would advise its members of the difficulties of operating into the ROC if the flight crew of SQ006 were prosecuted.

[57] However, more than 30 survivors and families of the dead rejected the offer and sued Singapore Airlines for higher damages.

[60] The Association of Asian American Yale Alumni named a Community Service Fellowship program after Tina Eugenia Yeh, an alumna who perished in the accident.

[66] The Republic of Singapore Air Force deployed a specially configured Boeing KC-135R for the medical evacuation of critical Singaporean victims; 73 survivors, 40 of whom were not hospitalized, and 33 of whom were discharged, had either returned home or continued with their travel.