On 27 July 1989, Korean Air Flight 803, a DC-10 crashed while attempting to land in Tripoli, Libya. 75 of the 199 passengers and crew on board plus 4 people on the ground were killed in the accident. The accident was the deadliest aviation disaster to occur in Libya at the time.[1]
Background
Aircraft
The aircraft involved was a McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30 (serial number 47887 and line number 125). It was built in 1973 and first flew on 17 September. During the test period, the aircraft was registered as N54634. The aircraft was powered by three General Electric CF6-50C2 turbofan engines. In 1974, the aircraft was sold to Air Siam, and it was registered in Thailand as HS-VGE on 25 November. In 1977, the airliner was sold to Korean Air (which at the time was known as Korean Air Lines), and received the Korean registration HL7328 on 25 February 1977.[citation needed] The aircraft had 49,025 flight hours and 11,440 take-off and landing cycles.[2] The captain was Kim Ho-jung (54), the first officer was Choi Jae-hong (57), and the flight engineer was Hyun Gyu-hwan (53).[3]
Accident
Flight 803 was a scheduled international passenger service from Seoul, South Korea to Tripoli, Libya with intermediate stops in Bangkok, Thailand and Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. There were a total of 18 crew members and 181 passengers, mostly South Korean workers, who were returning to Libya for construction work after their home leave.[4] The weather at the time of the accident consisted of heavy fog and visibility was between 100 and 800 feet (30 and 244 m).[1] Nevertheless, in such circumstances, the flight crew decided to continue the approach. On approach to runway 27, the DC-10 dropped below the glide path, then at 7:05 (according to other data - 7:30), it crashed into two buildings, broke into three sections, and burst into flames.[5] The accident site was in an orchard 1.5 miles (2.4 km; 1.3 nmi) short of runway 27. 75 people (72 passengers and 3 crew members) died in the accident, in addition to four people on the ground.[1][6][7]
There were 189 South Koreans, seven Libyans, and three Japanese nationals on board Flight 803.[7][8]Daewoo and Donga had multiple South Korean employees on board.[9]
Nationality
Passengers
Crew
Total
South Korea
171
18
189
Libya
7
0
7
Japan
3
0
3
Total
181
18
199
Investigation
At the direction of the Libyan authorities, French specialists were invited to investigate the causes of the accident. The flight recorders were sent to France. American representatives, including the aircraft manufacturer, were not allowed into Libya at the time.[10]
Aftermath
After the accident, Flight 803's captain Kim Ho-jung was quoted as saying - "The airport was shrouded in dense fog and visibility was poor when I approached. I lost contact with the control tower for 15 minutes before the crash."[7] Libya's official news agency JANA reported that a Soviet airliner one hour before Flight 803 had rerouted to Malta rather than land in the fog.[9] Also, the instrument landing system at Tripoli International Airport wasn't working at the time of the accident.[11]
A Libyan court found the captain and first officer guilty of neglect in December 1990. They were given prison sentences of two years and eighteen months respectively. In the case of the first officer the sentence was suspended.[12]
Cause
The cause of the accident was determined to be pilot error in attempting a descent below decision height without the runway environment in sight.[13]
^Sun-myeong, Lee (27 July 1989). "대한항공 사고 대책 본부 표정" [Korean Air Accident Countermeasure Headquarters Expression]. MBC Newsdesk (in Korean). Retrieved 10 September 2020.
