The plane sat by the band. Landing blindly.

            Guam. During the Second World War, fierce battles took place over this area. But peace has reigned here for over 50 years. This peace can only be disturbed by rare shots of hunters, as well as the roar of jet aircraft flying overhead. Every evening, commercial pilots fly over the cliffs and land at Agana International Airport. Planes arrive from all parts of Asia. (Read on to learn how plane landed near bandIt occurred blind landing.)

            6 August 1997 after midnight, Korean Airlines 801 flight Korean Air I flew from Seoul to Guam. Aircraft operated 42 old captain Park Yong Chow. He was a former pilot of the Korean Air Force. In Boeing 747 The park has flown over 6 for years. The captain was supposed to fly to the UAE, however, due to changes in the schedule, he led the 801 flight. In the cabin were tourists from Korea, Japan and Western countries. Total 237 passengers. They were all heading to the wonderful beaches of Guam. Guam is a tiny island in the Pacific with an area of ​​less than 6000 square kilometers. Tourists from many countries of the world like to rest on this island very much.

            Guam was still 2 flight hours, when the evening was no longer calm. The plane got into a zone of strong turbulence.

Passenger: The turbulence was terrible. Anyone who was not wearing a seat, have departed from the chair. All pounding, pounding and cracked. Shaking was terrible.

            But the crew managed to slip through the danger zone. It became calm around. Flight attendants cleaned up in the cabin, and the passengers were determined to fly further. The crew in the cabin was waiting. They knew that the weather itself will show. It rained all day in Guam. The rainy season was in full swing. When it rains lightly in the tropics, it makes visibility almost nil. Once in a thunderstorm, the pilots contacted the dispatcher in Agania. At this time, passengers saw the lights of Guam and began to prepare for landing.

Passenger: I knew exactly where we were, in fact many times been there before.

            Captain Park has flown to this island 9 once. But that time was special. At all airports in the world, pilots are landing sticking to the glide path, around which the electronic system is watching. She helps the plane land gently. If the pilot sticks to the glide path, she will lead him straight to the strip. But the lighthouse beacon at Guam Airport was removed in order to carry out its maintenance. Without a transmitter, the glide path indicator in the cabin of the Park was useless. Landing without the use of glide paths - a rare phenomenon. In Guam, the transmitter was turned off for 2 months. The difficulty with navigation was only part of the problem. Captain Park struggled with overwork. As they approached the island, clouds and rain began to come their way.

Passenger: Except for the turbulence, the flight is going well. We ate. It was perfectly normal, routine flight.

The plane sat by the band, as it was to read

            Visibility deteriorated, and the captain wanted to change course slightly to avoid weather-related problems. Having laid a turn around the clouds, the captain tried to find a clearance. Soon they succeeded. Dispatcher Kurt Mayo reminded pilots that the descent system on the glide path did not work.

            When the crew started the landing procedure, the unexpected happened. Pointer glide began to work. It was a moment of confusion for the pilots. Not sure what was going on, they prepared for landing. A few minutes later, Guam's dispatcher once again contacted the 801 board. He said that he was transferring them to another dispatcher responsible for landing. This was his last conversation with the crew. After that, another dispatcher gave the plane a go-ahead for landing on the lane No. XXUMX. As they descended, the clouds and rain covered the view of the pilots. They lost sight of the airport. The crew peered into the distance, but before them was only a wall of rain. Then a computer voice sounded in the cockpit: "6." It was a warning system about the proximity of the earth. She said that 150 meters remained to the ground.

Passenger: I've flown many times on this flight. When I realized that I had seconds before landing 30, I bent down to put on shoes.

            The ground was 60 meters, but the crew still did not see the lane. They had little time left. The pilots realized that they did not fall into the lane. Pulling the wheel to themselves and increasing the power of the engines, they went to the second round. But the computer only gave less distance to the ground. Suddenly, the plane crashed with force into the ground. After a few seconds he stood on one of the hills of Guam. On board were 254 person. Somehow, some managed to survive after a very hard landing.

Passenger: I was so scared that I could not unfasten his belt.

            All the survivors had to get out of the plane as soon as possible, because as a result of the crash, a fire started. However, many of them were injured and could not move independently.

Passenger: The fire broke out and began to spread on the plane. The fire was so strong that I perfectly saw everything around. When I got to the hole in the fuselage, I saw that the landing gear had been blown away. 

            Everyone in the cabin died. The fire spread very quickly, and at the airport did not even know what happened to the 801 board. A few minutes later, dispatcher Kurt Meier found out that the 801 flight did not land. Then everyone suspected something was wrong. Rescue crews were raised. Only one road led to the crash site, and rescuers with firefighters moved to the rescue. But soon they found an obstacle. A piece of pipeline vomited out of the ground during the fall. Now a huge pipe lay right on the road. Rescuers, along with the governor of the island, took medicine and ran to the burning plane.

Rescuer: The aircraft was in 40 meters down the slope. We included all the lights that we had and ran. We were guided by the cries of the wounded, I could not see anything.

            At this time, at the scene of the fall, the fire devoured the wreckage of the aircraft. Almost an hour after the fall, the first group of rescuers made their way to the crash site.

Firefighter: I divided his men into two groups. Some began to search for survivors from the tail of the aircraft, and the other with his nose. We tried to do everything possible for the survivors. From trees we did the tire, and his clothes were covered victims.

            It soon became clear that for many passengers nothing could be done. The head of the service did not lose hope again and again sending his people to search for survivors. Suddenly, an explosion thundered. Fortunately, none of the rescuers was hurt.

Firefighter: Radio communication was lost. But then one rescuer emerged from the wreckage and said that they were all right. All of them survived the explosion.

            With the onset of dawn, rescuers were able to assess the degree of destruction. The plane plowed the mountainside and broke up into several large fragments. Only 26 people survived the crash. Since Guam was an American territory, responsibility for investigating the causes of the disaster lay with the National Transport Safety Committee (NTSB). When the investigators arrived at the crash site, they were shocked.

Expert: As an investigator, you can not give in to emotions. It's like to be a surgeon. We have seen the terrible devastation and weeping relatives. However, we could not give in to emotions. We have tried to be objective.

            The first thing the investigators did was to go to the scene of the crash and conduct a surface examination. At the preliminary stage, they found that large parts of the fuselage were practically intact.

Investigator: Plane landing being controlled. Simply put, the pilot landed the liner at the trees and the earth. Unfortunately, it was in 5 kilometers from the airport.

There was a blind landing

            Experts have found on the site of the fall a few items that could survive. Among them was a landing card. It was used by the crew when approaching the airport. They also found the bag of Captain Park, in which there were pills. They were sent for examination.

            Using data from the flight recorder, investigators reconstructed the liner's flight route. The descent was smooth, however, it was evident that the pilots deviated from the desired route. The crew knew that the glide slope equipment was not working, so the captain himself controlled the descent. If the crew did everything according to the instructions, the descent would resemble a kind of steps. But on the graph from the flight recorder it was clear that after the first step, a smooth descent began.

Expert: If you do not do everything as prescribed, there is great risk crashing into an obstacle. It is necessary to accurately follow the flight map.

            Listening to the recording of the voice recorder, the investigators wanted to understand what was happening in the cabin. They found that the crew was very tired. Soon came the results of analyzes, according to which Captain Park did not take the pills, and they could not affect his ability to lead the aircraft. Experts heard the pilots discussing the sudden glide path pointer.

Investigator: The co-pilot saw the needle moved a little. He began to ask other crew members about the health of landing system glide path.

            Investigators began to understand why the pilots thought that their landing equipment was working. Experimentally, it was found that extraneous radio signals could not affect the equipment in the cabin. Moving on, investigators noticed that the pilots had a landing card six months old. It is simply outdated. The experts went further. They watched the training records of the Korean pilots. This opened a few more gaps.

Investigator: We found that Korean Airlines crews trained at airports where planting rangefinder is located on the strip.

            The range finder is a special device that showed the pilot where he was in relation to the airport. Most often, the landing rangefinder is located at the beginning of the lane. But not in Guam. Here from the range finder to the strip was 5 kilometers. Captain Park was guided by the distance of the last rangefinder, thinking that he would lead him to the runway.

Investigator: It became clear that the flight 801 began to decline to the point at 5 kilometers before. It was a normal landing approach. They just came at the wrong point. Blame was tired and incorrect crew training.

            When the rangefinder showed "0", the pilots thought they were at the beginning of the strip. They were wrong. A fully loaded Boeing 747 weighs more than 200 tons. He could not dramatically change the direction of motion. When the crew realized that they were not over the runway, it was already too late.

What causes a blind landing

            The final investigation report was published 2 years after the crash. It was blamed on training programs for Korean pilots. It was also noted that the crew relied too heavily on automation. But the most important thing was further. Due to the requirements of the air traffic control authorities, an important piece of equipment has been disabled. And he could save many lives. It was about a warning system for approaching the earth. This is standard equipment for most airports. But in Guam, the order of its use was changed. Usually, this system uses radar to monitor approaching aircraft. If it flies too low, the system notifies the dispatcher. But in Guam, this system did not work as it should.

Investigator: A system reconfigured and pushed all restrictions on the greater distance there from where she had no sense.

            Instead of accompanying the aircraft on approach to the airport, the system accompanied them far above the ocean.

Investigator: It can be characterized as highly irresponsible. The system was not designed for ease of controllers and to ensure the safety.

            For passengers on flight 801, these deficiencies were the cause of death. If the system worked normally, there could be no disaster. Without her, the crew received no warning at all.

The mother of the deceased: The pilots did not want to die. They had their own families. Nobody wanted to die, and we do not blame them. I guess no one wanted to be in this situation. It just happened.

            Many years later, a monument reminds of a catastrophe that was erected at the crash site. He shows that sometimes we have to pay the price for our mistakes.

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