Asiana Airlines Flight 991

HL7604, the unhappiness machine about a month before the crash in Los Angeles

Asiana Airlines Flight 991 was a scheduled cargo flight to the South Korean Asiana Airlines Cargo from Seoul to Shanghai. On July 28, 2011 overthrew the Boeing 747- 400F, which carried out the two-hour flight, yet unknown reason into the sea, about 110 km southwest of Jeju -si, South Korea.

Aircraft

The misfortune machine Boeing 747- 400F with the registration HL7604 was delivered on 15 February 2006 and entered into service on 23 February 2006. The aircraft completed 26,000 flight hours until his accident in the early morning hours of July 28 and was operated with engines of the type General Electric CF6- 80C2.

Course

Flight 991 began at 3:05 local time clock at Incheon International Airport in Seoul in the direction of Shanghai (China). The machine had been in the cargo area of ​​the airport after she returned a three-hour stay 00:12 clock by a scheduled cargo flight from Frankfurt am Main ( Germany ).

The machine had just under an hour's flight behind him when the crew at 4:03 clock ( clock 21:03 CEST) reported fire in the cargo hold and tried to avoid the Jeju International Airport on the South Korean island of Cheju. According to some reports, the pilot should have also reported mechanical problems. The plane was already in the air space, which is controlled by Shanghai, as the descent to the emergency landing was initiated. Clock at 4:11 local time, the machine disappeared from the radar. At this time, the 747 course already had taken on Jeju and was located about 107 km from the coast of the island when the plane hit the sea.

The crew consisted of two pilots, the 52 -year-old captain, with 14,000 hours of flying experience, including 7,000 on Boeing 747 and the 43 -year-old first officer with 5,000 flight hours.

Loading was the machine with 58 tons of cargo, including electronic components such as semiconductors and mobile phones. Were still 400 kg of lithium -ion batteries, paint and resin solutions on board. Whether these are related to the fire is under investigation.

Two and a half hours after the radar lost contact, were discovered by the Coast Guard in a far-flung parts of the territory of the Boeing 747, including a pilot's seat, parts of the rudder and part of the fuselage, which can be clearly assigned to the aircraft of Asiana Airlines Cargo.

Almost exactly three months after the crash, 29 October 2011, the two bodies of the pilots could be rescued as well as other parts of the cockpit frame and trunk are located. The pilots were strapped found sitting in uniform. The site is located 104 km off the west coast of Jeju.

The flight data recorder has not been located to date. According to the Coast Guard the sea at the crash site is about 90 m deep.

The accident was barely present in European media.

Trivia

• The misfortune machine with the registration HL7604 was the last Boeing 747- 400F of old paint by Asiana Airlines.
• A few days after the crash, it was announced that the master has completed seven life insurance policies worth $ 3 trillion Korean Won (about 2 million euros ) in June. Whether a causal connection with the crash there is as yet unclear. According to Asiana Airlines pilot earned the equivalent of about 134 000 euros per year.