Korean Air Flight 801

Introduction
Korean Air Flight 801 was a passenger flight from South Korea to Guam. The plane crashed into Nimitz Hill, Guam due to pilot & ATC error.

Pilots & Aircraft
Korean Air Flight 801 was originally flown on an Airbus A300, but that was currently being used to fly athletes to the South Pacific Mini Games of that year. The airline then designated a 12-year old Boeing 747-300 to do the flight instead. Captain Park Yong-chul will be flying the 747, and has recently earned a Flight Safety Award for dealing with an engine failure at a low altitude in a 747. He has nearly 9,000 flying hours, and a third of those are in the 747. He was originally not planned to pilot this flight, but he did not have enough rest to fly long distances, so he was transferred to this flight. First officer is Song Kyung-ho, who has 1,000 hours in the 747. Flight engineer is Nam Suk-hoon, a veteran pilot who has a total of 13,000 hours in the air.

The Crash
The crew is preparing for landing at Guam's only major airport. They rely on a flight map to safely fly over Nimitz Hill, which is nearby the airport. The captain cannot find the ILS (Instrument Landing System) which helps pilots to align with the runway. The captain eventually finds it, and follows it down to the runway. But right as they are descending through 600 ft, the plane crashes into Nimitz Hill, the hill they were trying to avoid.

The Survivors
After hitting the ground, the ceiling of the aircraft came down in some areas, trapping survivors. The most notable is 44-year-old Shigeko Matsuda, who is stuck under the plastic ceiling and a ball of wires. Her daughter, 11-year-old Rika, however is not. Shigeko tells her child to run, that there is no hope to save her mum. After constantly not letting go, Rika finally gives in. She leaves her mother in the burning wreckage of the aircraft, where she burns to death. Rika makes it out alive, and meets up with a flight attendant who also survived the crash. Survivors claim to hear the screams of pain as people burn in the aircraft, which eventually fade away when the life has been pulled out of them. A total of 25 of the 254 people aboard make it out alive, but all sustaining injuries. Some rescuers arrive some time after, and the 747 burns for another 8 hours.

The Many Factors
The first and main factor that caused the crash was the ILS (Instrument Landing System). The ILS at the airport was broken, but the flight crew were not alerted of this. The captain found an unidentified signal and thought it was the ILS system, but it was instead leading them to the hill. The second factor was that the chart they were following to get over the hill was outdated, and the new altitude was 140 ft above the chart they were following. As well as this, the co-pilot and flight engineer should have piped up to question the captain's path, but due to old traditions stating that the captain was in charge, they did not. ATC also had something to do with the accident, as they should have alerted Flight 801 of the position of the airport, and they did not notify them of their low altitude.

May all 229 of those who died rest in peace.