A Korean Air jet had a serious incident this evening while landing in the Philippines….
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?
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