• When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.

Nasty plane crash in S. Korea

Out of all the ones with known causes listed very few are issues with the aircraft design/engineering or build quality. I worked in the aerospace industry as a machine shop inspector for a few years during my career and learned a lot about the procedures to insure safety. One of my instructors told some good stories about things he saw back in the `70s- `80s - we have come a long way in regards to safety/training/regulation since then. List of accidents and incidents involving the Boeing 737 - Wikipedia
we have come a long way, but Boeing incidents have indeed gone up and quality has been confirmed as decreased in the past few years. Then there was the Boeing quality inspector whistle blower who explained he quit due to them not heeding his inspection repair recommendations and warnings.

Other than Boeing quality and problems with their newer planes, that may not necessarily be the case with this and the other recent landing gear failures on the 737-800. It very well could be Airline maintenance procedure issues. These pilots should not be blamed for this case as they should never have had to deal with landing gear failing to deploy. The touchdown was gentle and textbook, while the location of set down with the wall at the end was not ideal. Air traffic control error? So many things need to be correct for a safe landing - Aircraft quality, proper maintenance, air traffic control, pilot skill and execution, natural and environmental events (bird strikes, weather).
 
No ones blaming the pilots just stating stats and trends of other accidents with that aircraft, pilots perform some amazing, heroic saves as well. Boeings recent issues wouldn`t affect these older models unless they find they go way back as well but so far I haven`t heard that is the case. Obviously we won`t know the whole story until the investigation is completed and it may be that the pilots did the absolute best they could with the situation. Go watch some air disaster videos, it will open to eyes as to all the things that can happen in the cockpit.
 
Hard to tell from videos available - but it seems the full length of runway was used just sliding at maximum speed.
My first impression of the video when first released was visibly and audibly the engine(s) never throttled back, nor did it seem the plane lose any speed in the landing process.
My first thought this was another possible intentional unhinged pilot Flight 370 scenario with a lot less planning. I am certain every pilot in that region knows of the runway hard walls at that airports runway ends AND knows what the end result is of a belly flop landing with wheels up combined with a mid-point touchdown. Ignoring the fact the pilots are the first likely victims to contact that concrete wall.
How could any professional pilot expect a different outcome?
 
Last edited:
Usually when they land gear up they put it in the dirt to stop the plane from sliding off the end of the runway. This is what happens when you have an airport located in a city with no room for emergency situations.
I don't know, the few wheels up landings I have seen seem to prefer to use the runway and slide to an easy stop. Sometimes they will foam the runway likely for fire prevention which I suppose also lengthens the slide out. Dirt is risky in it would seem to allow a wing/etc to dig in and cartwheel the aircraft and all that entails
 
This stuff concerns me. I have just about 2 million commercial aircraft passenger miles. I have had 3 incidents over many hundreds of flights
On a Phoenix to Albuquerque flight plane rolled hard right and then out the window could see the AA 737 pilot clearly as they passed in the opposite direction
On a flight from Phoenix to Miami the UAL 757 had a cockpit warning of some kind…we had to assume the crash position and the runway was lined with emergency vehicles when we did land conventionally
On a flight to Hanoi Vietnam, Vietnam Airways flight, a passenger opened the middle exit door after we landed deploying the slide while we were still on roll just after landing. Got to take a bus from the end of the runway to the terminal.

I work with all of the aircraft manufacturers. Airbus and Boeing both have good aircraft designs and Boeing is under extreme FAA review right now, Airbus is not. Boeing replaced all the managing engineers with newly minted MBA’s over the last few years. One FAA issue that has affected us all is FAA Notice 8100.19. I have to have my inspectors formally sign that no one has forced them to write an FAA 8130 airworthiness tag. The 737 max crashes result.

Airbus managing engineers are starting to retire with replacements being of the same background
 
Don't take this wrong, but with millions of miles under your belt, I say you are sitting pretty.
What might concern us both is what we don't know that happened, like what actually precipitated the crash position landing?

My most notable troublesome flight was early 80's out of Melbourne down under. There was an unexplained delay before departure.
We landed in NZ to top off? and for reasons unexplained, we sat again at the gate 2hrs additional before departing for LA.
That delay means we missed our connection to Mia.
After arriving in LA, we had to wait another 6 hrs to get a new Flight to Miami.
Our group again boarded and sat at the gate 2 hrs past scheduled departure.
At that point It was clear we were on the same plane from Melbourne.
We finally took off.
An hour into the flight to Miami, the new pilot came on the PA and informed us they were not able retract the flaps?, and if they could not it would require multiple fuel stops to Miami, so we were returning to LA, which we did.
Upon landing, it was discovered there was no open available gates to allow us to deboard, so we sat on the tarmac for 2 more hours, and again missing the next possible alternate flights to Miami.
6 hours later we were back on another plane headed to Miami.
It was nearly a 36 hour trip.:BangHead:
 
Don't take this wrong, but with millions of miles under your belt, I say you are sitting pretty.
What might concern us both is what we don't know that happened, like what actually precipitated the crash position landing?

My most notable troublesome flight was early 80's out of Melbourne down under. There was an unexplained delay before departure.
We landed in NZ to top off? and for reasons unexplained, we sat again at the gate 2hrs additional before departing for LA.
That delay means we missed our connection to Mia.
After arriving in LA, we had to wait another 6 hrs to get a new Flight to Miami.
Our group again boarded and sat at the gate 2 hrs past scheduled departure.
At that point It was clear we were on the same plane from Melbourne.
We finally took off.
An hour into the flight to Miami, the new pilot came on the PA and informed us they were not able retract the flaps?, and if they could not it would require multiple fuel stops to Miami, so we were returning to LA, which we did.
Upon landing, it was discovered there was no open available gates to allow us to deboard, so we sat on the tarmac for 2 more hours, and again missing the next possible alternate flights to Miami.
6 hours later we were back on another plane headed to Miami.
It was nearly a 36 hour trip.:BangHead:

I have had a lot of crazy stuff happen over the years but only a few real concerns. Here is a UAL 747 flight half way to Shanghai when the ceiling started leaking bad over the
Pacific. The flight attendants tried their best but….

IMG_0030.jpeg


IMG_0051.jpeg
 
I`ve only been on a few airplane trips from Boston - a twin prop to Long Island back in the `80`s, vacations to Aruba, to Orlando (Disney), and Tennessee, I also did one ride in a helicopter in and out of a Nascar race at Loudon. I`ve never liked or felt safe any time I am in the air as for me knowing they are mechanical objects made and flown by humans means they can and will have issues. And yes - I understand air travel is statistically safer then driving a vehicle but it`s the being 5-6+ miles in the air when something happens that bothers me as there is 100% chance of you coming back down but you just don`t know how that will happen.
 
Auto Transport Service
Back
Top