An argument between the pilot and co-pilot of a Korean Air jet over whether to abort the bad-weather landing may have caused it to crash, police said Thursday. All 160 people on board escaped just before the plane burst into flames.
The Airbus A300 skidded along a rain-slicked runway and rammed into a safety barricade as it tried to land on the resort island of Cheju as a typhoon approached Wednesday.Minutes after the 152 passengers and eight crewmembers jumped down an escape chute, multiple explosions shook the plane. The subsequent fire gutted most of the plane.
The pilot, Barry Edward Woods of Vancouver, Canada, told police the co-pilot, Chung Chan-kyu of South Korea, suddenly attempted to abort the landing 400 yards from the end of the runway, causing the plane to skid, police said.
Chung, 36, said that Woods, 52, insisted on landing the plane even though there was not enough room on the runway after a sudden tail wind pushed the plane forward, police said.
Chung said he twice shouted to Woods to abort, but Woods ignored him, according to police.
But, Chung said, instead of landing, the plane reared up after its rear wheels ricocheted off the slippery runway. When he tried to balance the plane and bring it up again, Woods engaged manual breaks, causing the plane to skid, Chung said.
The co-pilot also said that the brakes seemed to have malfunctioned.
Woods said there were no problems until Chung disengaged the landing.
The pilot and co-pilot also disagreed on the distance left on the runway, according to the police report.
Woods said the wind blew the plane three-quarters of a mile into the runway, leaving enough room to land, but Chung said the plane was more than nine-tenths of a mile along, which did not leave enough room.
Officials at the Cheju International Airport air traffic control tower appeared to support Chung's version, telling police the plane was pushed more than one-and-one-tenth mile into the runway.
The airport's runway is 1.86 miles long.
Both the pilot and co-pilot have been under police custody since early Thursday and could not be reached for comment.