Flight Crew Blamed in 1997 Korean Air Crash in Guam

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said that the probable cause of the crash of Korean Air Flight 801 in 1997 was 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."

NTSB said that the captain's fatigue and Korean Air's inadequate flight crew training were contributing factors, as was FAA's "intentional inhibition of the minimum safe altitude warning system and the agency's failure to adequately to manage the system."

The August 6, 1997 crash of Flight 801, a Boeing 747-300, took place about 3 miles southwest of the Guam airport in an area of high terrain. Of the 254 persons on board, 228 were killed, and 23 passengers and 3 flight attendants survived the accident with serious injuries.

Click here to download a full-text abstract of the NTSB's report on the accident released Nov. 2.