Korean Air Crash at Nimitz Hill, Guam
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Contact photographer Michel Gilliand
What: Korean Air Boeing 747-3B5B (747-300) en route from Seoul, Korea to Agana, Guam.
Where: Nimitz Hill, Guam
When: August 6, 1997
Who: 2 pilots, 1 flight engineer, 14 flight attendants, and 237 passengers
Why: On August 6, 1997, about 0142:26 Guam local time, Korean Air flight 801, a Boeing 747-3B5B (747-300), crashed at Nimitz Hill, Guam. Flight 801 departed from Kimpo International Airport, Seoul, Korea, with 2 pilots, 1 flight engineer, 14 flight attendants, and 237 passengers on board. The airplane had been cleared to land on runway 6 Left at A.B. Won Guam International Airport, Agana, Guam, and crashed into high terrain about 3 miles SW of the airport. 228 were killed, and 23 passengers and 3 flight attendants survived the accident with serious injuries. The airplane was destroyed by impact forces and post crash fire. Flight 801 was operating in U.S. airspace as a regularly scheduled international passenger service flight. The National Transportation Safety Board determines the probable cause to be the captain’s failure to adequately brief and execute the nonprecision approach and the first officer’s and flight engineer’s failure to effectively monitor and cross-check the captain’s execution of the approach. Contributing to these failures were the captain’s fatigue and Korean Air’s inadequate flight crew training.