Korean Air Cargo

Boeing 747-200

Boeing 747 HL-7451 arrived at Stansted at 15:05 after a flight from Tashkent. Prior to leaving the aircraft, the flight engineer made an entry in the Technical Log stating "Captain's ADI [Attitude Director Indicator] unreliable in roll' he also verbally passed the details to the operator's ground engineer who met the aircraft on arrival. During turnover repair works on the ADI were carried out. Some cargo was offloaded and other cargo loaded for the flight to Milan-Malpensa (takeoff weight was 548,352 lb including 68,300 lb of fuel) and a new crew boarded the aircraft. After a delay of an hour, because ATC had not received the flight plan, Flight 8509 was cleared to depart Stand Alpha 6 and taxi to runway 23 holding point at 18:25. Subsequently, at 18:36 KAL 8509 was cleared to takeoff with a reported surface wind of 190deg/18 kt. The Dover 6R Standard Instrument Departure called for a climb ahead to 1.5 miles DME, then a left turn onto the 158 inbound radial to the Detling VOR. Climbing through 900 feet, the ADI 'Comparator' buzzer sounded three times. Shortly afterwards, the warning sounded a further two times, coincident with the captain expressing concerns over his DME indication. Climbing through 1400 feet, ATC instructed the crew to contact 'London Control'. And as the captain initiated the procedure turn to the left, the 'Comparator' warning sounded again some 9 times. The maximum altitude reached was 2,532 feet amsl. The aircraft then banked left progressively and entered a descent until it struck the ground in a approx. 40deg nose down pitch and 90deg bank to the left; the speed was high in the region of 250 to 300 kt.

McDonnell Douglas MD-11

On April 15, 1999, Korean Air cargo flight KE6316, a McDonnell Douglas MD-11F, Korean registration HL7373, departed from runway 18 at Shanghai-Hongqiao International Airport, for Seoul, Korea with 2 pilots and 1 flight technician on board at 16:01:35 Beijing local time (08:01:35 UTC time). The autopilot was off 1 minute 7 seconds (at 16:02:42) after takeoff. The airplane maneuvered first to the right, and then kept level flight at approximately 200° track for more than 30 seconds, and maneuvered back to the left. The crew was subsequently cleared to climb to 1,500 meters (4,900 feet) during which the airplane turned to NHW** at 900 meters (3,000 feet). The airplane passed 1,310 meters at 16:04:15, the airplane suddenly executed a very rapid descent after reaching 1,370 meters (4,500 feet) at 16:04:19 and then the airplane disappeared from the airport SSR screen. The airplane crashed into the ground at 16:04:35 according to Shanghai Seismic Bureau's measurement. The distance from the accident site to the airport runway is 11.6 kilometers, the site azimuth is 165° from the center of the runway centerline. The aircraft was totally destroyed and all three crew members were killed as well as five people on the ground. Thirty-six other people were injured, four seriously.