A Korean Air jet had a serious incident this evening while landing in the Philippines….
In this post:
Korean Air A330 struggles to land in Cebu
This incident involves the Sunday, October 23, 2022, Korean Air flight KE631 from Seoul (ICN) to Cebu (CEB). The flight was operated by a 24-year-old Airbus A330-300 with the registration code HL7525. The 1,876-mile flight from South Korea to the Philippines was blocked at 4hr35min.
Roughly the first 3hr30min of the flight went as planned, as the plane proceeded south over the East China See and Philippine Sea, before eventually beginning the descent toward Cebu.
Unfortunately weather conditions in Cebu weren’t great on Sunday evening, between heavy rain and poor visibility. The plane ended up attempting to land twice, under 15 minutes apart, but the pilots decided to perform a go around each time, as they weren’t able to land safely.
Given the bad conditions, at this point the plane entered a holding pattern, clearly in hopes of conditions improving. Just around 40 minutes after the previous landing attempt, the pilots attempted a third landing. Given that the flight was already an hour longer than usual, I can’t help but wonder what their fuel reserves were like at this point.
This time around the Airbus A330 did touch down, but unfortunately the plane didn’t stay on the runway. Rather it overran the runway pretty significantly, before coming to a stop.
We’ll have to wait and see how this unfolds…
Images of the plane show substantial damage, with what looks like some pretty big rips. It also looks like the front nose gear collapsed, based on the angle at which the plane came to a stop.
It seems pretty likely that the plane will never fly again (especially given how old it already was), though of course what’s much more important is the safety of passengers.
One Twitter user who was on the flight claims that the pilots told passengers to prepare for an emergency landing when the third landing attempt was made. When the plane came to a stop, emergency exits and slides were deployed for passengers to get off.
The good news is that the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines reports that all 173 passengers and crew were evacuated from the plane, without any casualties or life threatening injuries. Minor injuries were treated at the airport clinic.
It really is incredible how well built planes are, and that even when something like this happens, everyone managed to get off the plane without major injuries. The incident is now being investigated, so that it can be avoided in the future.
Bottom line
A Korean Air Airbus A330 had a landing accident this evening in Cebu. The weather conditions weren’t good, and the plane performed two go arounds, before entering a holding pattern and then eventually trying to land for a third time. Unfortunately that didn’t go well, and the plane ended up off the runway, with major damage.
The good news is that no one onboard was seriously injured. Flying is such an incredibly safe form of transportation, but accidents like this are always a reminder of how things can go wrong.
What do you make of this Korean Air A330 landing incident?
Care to update this story now we know that everyone is safe and that the ILS at the airport was down?
ILS out, which then necessitates a less precise RNAV approach, low visibility because of weather, and a runway with poor surface conditions is likely going to be the factors involved in what will ultimately be called a poor decision by the captain to continue landing attempts at Cebu.
Now there certainly may be systemic issues in place; company pressure to make a trip, was adequate fuel loaded to facilitate a diversion, cultural expectation to...
ILS out, which then necessitates a less precise RNAV approach, low visibility because of weather, and a runway with poor surface conditions is likely going to be the factors involved in what will ultimately be called a poor decision by the captain to continue landing attempts at Cebu.
Now there certainly may be systemic issues in place; company pressure to make a trip, was adequate fuel loaded to facilitate a diversion, cultural expectation to be successful, but ultimately a pilot needs to have the gumption to get past all of that to put their plane on the ground safely. This outcome obviously did not happen.
Stop whining. The incident that this person is talking about actually happened.
It wasn't FoxNews, it was KTVU in Oakland, and the newscaster was too stupid to realize that the names were fake and she was being punked on live TV.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1JYHNX8pdo
@ConcordeBoy
So if someone was using derogatory words on live TV, we should stop whining and use the n-word?
Indeed. Stop being such fucking pussies and get on with your lives.
interesting the passenger said they were told ahead of time to prepare for emergency evacuation "Due to weather and plane malfunctions...". So the crew knew before they attempted the landing that there was something broken with the airplane? Sounds like inclement weather wasnt the only factor?
Question investigators will look into was why they didn’t divert to the alternate on the flight plan. Guessing they encountered wind sheer causing them to land long. They probably should’ve gone around a 3rd time or gone to the alternate. That’s exactly why we have alternates planed is for these types of situations. Someone is getting fired.
Why the pilot didn't decide to land to the nearest airport, the Panglao International airport?
Looks like the desire to complete the mission took priority over finding a secondary place to land.
The question becomes how was the weather in places like Manila, or in Indonesia, vs available fuel after two missed approaches and an hour of circling. If weather was expected to be an issue SOP should be to carry enough fuel to make an airport outside the the anticipated bad weather.
After the second missed approach...
Looks like the desire to complete the mission took priority over finding a secondary place to land.
The question becomes how was the weather in places like Manila, or in Indonesia, vs available fuel after two missed approaches and an hour of circling. If weather was expected to be an issue SOP should be to carry enough fuel to make an airport outside the the anticipated bad weather.
After the second missed approach I would have expected enough fuel to go to a secondary airport, but if the weather sucked everywhere, or the forecast said Cebu should improve, I can also see the desire to land in Cebu as planned.
My WAG - the captain got myopic on the mission and decided before the approach even started he was going to put it on the ground the third try.
I’m certianly open to that not being the case though.
Interesting, but what secondary airport ? The flying time back to MNL is one hour plus. Indonesia ?? Possibly Bohol.
I guess this case is a perfect example of “getthereitis”.
24 years old! Glad it’s getting retired. But wasn’t expected like this.
24 is in no way atypical for a plane still in passenger service, especially a widebody.
Question for pilot readers of this blog:
If flight crew believe passengers must be prepared for an emergency landing, should they also conclude a diversion to another airport would be better?
I'd think that after the first two go-arounds and an hour of waiting for the weather to clear, that the plane was pretty much out of fuel, forcing the emergency landing. Commercial planes don't carry a lot more fuel than they need for their destinations, 1) to save on fuel costs, and 2) because extra weight from fuel can mess up the landing even in nice weather.
As an extra tidbit for reason #2, planes...
I'd think that after the first two go-arounds and an hour of waiting for the weather to clear, that the plane was pretty much out of fuel, forcing the emergency landing. Commercial planes don't carry a lot more fuel than they need for their destinations, 1) to save on fuel costs, and 2) because extra weight from fuel can mess up the landing even in nice weather.
As an extra tidbit for reason #2, planes that find mechanical issues or whatnot right after takeoff have to release most of their fuel into the air (and thus the oceans and land) before returning to land at their departure airport because it's difficult to land a fully loaded plane safely.
You have an alternate for a reason. Not to say, “will just hold here hoping the weather gets better”. They induced that emergency by not diverting. If that’s the final findings.
My nephew and his wife were passengers on this flight going to Cebu for business from Seattle
Hope they are ok. Most likely anxious and hope there’s someone there to support them.
Looks like the nose gear failed and what you thought was fuselage damage is I think perimeter fencing that been ripped up and goes around the middle of the aircraft. Might not be a write off, hope all are safe and well.
Flight to the PH probably carrying a lot of elderly from US and Canada.. can’t imagine people like my grandma and grandpa having to evacuate. At least in MNL there are always lines of wheelchairs
I'm not sure how many wheelchair bound passengers would be traveling post-COVID. My uncles and their wives used to travel pretty frequently to the motherland and both of their wives now require the aid of a wheelchair, but have no plans to do so for the foreseeable future because of fears of COVID. My mom who is actually considered elderly, but not wheelchair bound, will be traveling. I'm sure a lot if not majority of...
I'm not sure how many wheelchair bound passengers would be traveling post-COVID. My uncles and their wives used to travel pretty frequently to the motherland and both of their wives now require the aid of a wheelchair, but have no plans to do so for the foreseeable future because of fears of COVID. My mom who is actually considered elderly, but not wheelchair bound, will be traveling. I'm sure a lot if not majority of the elderly especially those who are wheelchair bound will hold off their travels so I wouldn't be surprised if there's a significant drop of those demographics that are traveling. But yes, a lot of travelers that go back to their motherland are PWD at least pre-COVID. Philippine Airlines actually filed an appeal with LAX because they were moved to the MSC and it'll be a huge burden to a lot of their passengers as they have the most wheelchair bound passengers.
A lot of people who are "wheelchair bound" suddenly become UNwheelchair bound when the plane rolls up to the arrival gate. We call this: Being cured by Jetway Jesus.
I call it being seated in "miracle class." See it on flights to Las Vegas a lot.
I just took my grandparents home to Manila by ANA in August. Many many wheelchairs. In fact there were not enough staff in MNL that each worker had to keep coming back and take 2 wheelchairs each.... and yes I get that these people use can walk but use wheelchairs for distance (if my grandparents walked it would take 10 minutes to get up the jet bridge) but imagine them goin down the slides ( at least it looks like slides are deployed) ugh I can't think about it
There were 6 in wheelchairs last month when AA240 landed at FCO in the rain without a gate and they brought out the stairs. I often wonder how they get them off with stairs, perhaps they use the trucks that lift the food carts? Whatever the case, it seemed like a normal number of wheelchairs for a 777-200.
There are special lifts for chair-bound pax to board planes that don’t have jetways; there also exist mobile stairs that have built-in lifts, quite like those you see on stationary stairs in homes.
Many elderly folks take wheelchair (even though they can walk) for 2 reasons; 1) they can't walk long distances, 2) language barrier or they can't navigate their way to the correct terminal/gate. There's usually an option when booking: a) wheelchair and need assistance to seat on plane or b) wheelchair but can walk up to seat from gate.