Korean Air Flight 801 Case Study

I. Introduction

This investigation is a report on an accident involving Korean Air Flight 801’s Boeing 747-300 which unfortunately crashed into a terrain in Nimitz Hill, Guam, only 3 miles away from the Guam International Airport. This investigation focuses on different issues such as the aircraft’s approach procedure, the training of the crew, the performance of the crew, and the Authority of Guam itself.

Situational Awareness is one of the critical issues to be tackled in this investigation, to how the Captain, the First Officer, and the Flight Engineer handled the situation they experienced, and how the airport and the crew itself and the passenger has turned the passengers bedazzled dreams into an array of nightmares.

II. Analysis

On August 5, 1997, Korean Air Flight 801, which was under the care of Captain Park Yung-Chul, together with his First Officer, Song Kyun-Ho. And Flight Engineer Nam Suk Hoon, 3 Flight Attendants, and 250 passengers were on their way to Guam International Airport, they first suffered from turbulence due to the continuous rain shower they were experiencing. Although it only lasted for a minute or so, the flight still managed to pass through it safely.

But the GSI is not the only issue here, the Captain of Flight 801 was suffering from fatigue, thus automatically reducing his performance and awareness. Even though the pouring of rain had stopped, they continued for the descend of the aircraft, then the rain immediately resumed, which obviously made it hard for the flight crew to see. The flight crew did not clearly see the runway which made their approach much more challenging and