The researcher conducted a case study analysis of China Airlines' crisis management during its 1998 crash in Taiwan, the worst in the airport's history.The researcher looked for evidence of Gonzalez-Herrero and Pratt's crisis theory in China Airlines' crisis management by identifying the following parts of the theory: issue management, planning prevention, the crisis, and the post-crisis.The researcher sought to suggest the use of Gonzalez-Herrero and Pratt's crisis theory in the formative research of China Airlines crisis management and to help public relations planners in the airline industry understand how crisis management incorporating Gonzalez-Herrero and Pratt's crisis theory could be presented and disseminated.Procedures began with collection of facts and interviews with the key public relations personnel of China Airlines. Next, the researcher applied Gonzalez-Herrero and Pratt's crisis theory to the China Airlines case for analysis. In addition, by viewing the other two airlines crash cases, this study provided a comparison of their crisis management strategies.The researcher followed Miles and Huberman's (1994) guidelines for addressing reliability and validity.Recommendations for improving China air's crisis management would be to use issue management, planning prevention, the crisis, and the post-crisis, the four steps of Gonzalez-Herrero and Pratt's crisis theory, for managing crises. The researcher also recommends periodical internal drills for different crises, and establishment of organizational legitimacy and authority.Limitations of the study included the legitimacy of qualitative research, that the study included the legitimacy of qualitative research, thus the study may not be considered a case study in the strictest sense, and that crisis management did not intentionally incorporate the process of Gonzalez-Herrero and Pratt's crisis theory in China Airlines' crisis management because of the company's culture issue.Further research on the China Airlines' crisis management should be conducted to evaluate its effectiveness and the culture issue. / Department of Journalism