China Southern Airlines flight,an Airbus A319, B-6039 and Korean Air flight, Boeing 737-800, were involved in serious runway incursion incident at Cheongju International Airport, South Korea.
South Korea, March 19 (Yonhap) – South Korea said Saturday it has launched a probe into an incident involving two aircraft that almost collided a day earlier in fog on the runway of a provincial airport.
Cheongju is a joint military/civil airport with two parallel runways. At the time of the incident there was no parallel taxiway available for passenger aircraft leaving the platform. Two taxiways connected the platform with runway 06L/24R. Aircraft thus had to backtrack on the runway before being able to depart.
A passenger airliner belonging to China Southern Airlines almost cut off one from South Korea’s largest airline Korean Air Co. on the runway at Cheongju International Airport on Friday night, according to South Korea’s transportation ministry. There was no reported injury.
There was heavy fog at the time of the incident, Runway Visual Range at the time of incident (RVR) was 400 m., making it hard to discern other airplanes with the naked eye, according to witnesses.
The Chinese plane carrying about 90 passengers appeared to have approached the runway from the right while the Korean Air airliner was making a landing at the airport in Cheongju.
The Chinese plane had planned to take off for Dalian after the Korean-flagged aircraft with 137 people on board passed the airstrip.
The collision was averted when the pilots of the Korean Air flight veered left, steered to the left in order to avoid a collision as they were landing to keep as much distance as possible from the Chinese airplane.
Dense fog could be blamed for the Chinese airliner entering the runway, as it went passed the stop line before receiving approval for take-off from the control tower, according to a government source.
The ministry said that it has launched an investigation into the incident, based on the communication records of the two airplanes’ pilots with the airport’s control tower and other evidence.
If China Southern Airlines is found to have violated relevant aviation law, the government plans to request Chinese authorities take punitive actions, it said.
Visibility was limited at the time of the incident
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Korean CAA issued an amendment to include a note on the Aerodrome Chart, reading: “Aircraft entering RWY 06L/24R shall pay extra caution and they should not cross the hold line for RWY 06L/24R without ATC authorization.” Also, a detailed ground and taxi procedure paragraph was added.