Korean Air Cargo Flight 6316
McDonnell Douglas MD-11F · Crashed during climb following loss of control due to confusion between metric and imperial measures
From Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport (SHA) to Seoul Gimpo International Airport (GMP)
Event
- NTSB case
- DCA99RA056
- Event typeAccident: someone killed or seriously injured, or the aircraft substantially damaged (NTSB definition). Incident: an occurrence that affected or could have affected safety, short of that. Glossary
- Accident
- InvestigationHow far the investigation had got when the record was published: preliminary, ongoing, final or completed. Unknown where the source does not say. Glossary
- Unknown · led by another country; figures from NTSB notifications
- Event fatalities
- 8 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- 5
- Occupants
- 3
- Survivors
- 0
- InjuriesFatal: death within 30 days. Serious: over 48 hours in hospital within a week, most broken bones, severe bleeding, nerve or organ damage, or serious burns. Minor: anything less. Glossary
- 42 · all on the ground
- OperationWhat kind of flying it was, grouped by the rules it flew under: airline (US Part 121), air taxi and commuter (Part 135), general aviation (Part 91 and similar), military or government. Glossary
- Airline
- WeatherVisual meteorological conditions (VMC): good enough to fly by looking outside. Instrument conditions (IMC): cloud or low visibility, flying by instruments. Glossary
- Not recorded
McDonnell Douglas MD-11F
- Flight
- KE6316
- Aircraft type
- McDonnell Douglas MD-11
- Category
- Airplane · from aircraft type
- RegistrationThe aircraft's tail number, such as N12345 or G-ABCD. Registrations are reissued, so the same one years apart can be a different aircraft. Glossary
- HL7373
- Operator
- Korean Air Cargo
- Onboard fatalities
- 3
- Route
- From Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport (SHA)To Seoul Gimpo International Airport (GMP)
- Aircraft age
- Not recorded
- Flight rulesThe regulations the flight operated under: in the US, Part 91 (general aviation), Part 121 (airlines), Part 135 (air taxi and commuter) and others; for flights abroad, the NTSB's coarser commercial or non-commercial code. Glossary
- Part 129: Foreign
- Phase of flightThe stage of the flight when things started to go wrong: standing, taxi, takeoff, initial climb, en route, maneuvering, approach or landing. Glossary
- Not recorded
- Defining eventThe single coded event the NTSB judges best describes what happened (records from 2008 on). Older records name the first occurrence in the sequence instead. Glossary
- Not recorded
- DamageDestroyed: beyond practical repair. Substantial: damage that affects the structure, performance or handling and normally needs major repair. Minor: less than that. Glossary
- Not recorded
Cause areas
- Personnel issues › Psychological
- Personnel issues › Action/decision
- Personnel issues › Task performance
From the investigation findings the Wikipedia article reports, sorted into the NTSB's cause areas with AI assistance.
Approximate · Coordinates from the Wikipedia article; not checked against an investigation report.
From the Wikipedia article
Korean Air Cargo Flight 6316 (KE6316/KAL6316) was a scheduled Korean Air Cargo freight flight from Shanghai to Seoul. On 15 April 1999, the McDonnell Douglas MD-11F operating the route, registered as HL7373, crashed in Xinzhuang, Shanghai shortly after taking off from Hongqiao Airport, killing all 3 crew on board, along with 5 on the ground.
Accident
Loaded with 86 tons of cargo, the MD-11F operating Flight 6316 took off from Shanghai Hongqiao Airport at around 4:00 pm. The flight crew consisted of Captain Hong Sung-sil (54), First Officer Park Bon-suk (35), and flight engineer Park Byong-ki (48). After taking off, the MD-11F received clearance to climb to 1500 m after the first officer contacted Shanghai Departure.
As the aircraft climbed to 4,500 ft, the first officer told the captain that the required altitude should be 1500 ft, thinking that the aircraft was 3,000 ft too high. The captain pushed the control column abruptly forward, causing the aircraft to descend at over 34,000 ft/min. At 4:04 pm, the aircraft became uncontrollable due to the steep dive and eventually crashed into an industrial zone in Xinzhuang, which is 10 km southwest of Hongqiao Airport. The aircraft impacted the ground and exploded. Along with the 3 South Korean crew on board, 2 pupils and 3 migrant workers on the ground also perished. The crash was recorded by the nearby Shanghai Earthquake Administration which indicated that the impact forces had generated an equivalent of a 1.6 magnitude earthquake.
Investigation and cause
Investigation
On April 27, 1999, the primary investigation revealed no evidence of an explosion or mechanical failure before the impact. In June 2001, further investigation carried out by CAAC showed that the first officer had confused 1,500 m, the required altitude, with 1,500 ft, prompting the captain to make the wrong decision to descend. The captain's response was an abrupt overreaction on the flight controls, resulting in a rapid descent which was unrecoverable.
In South Korea, all aviation altitudes are measured in feet in compliance with the ICAO convention.
In Russia, China and parts of Central Asia, level flight above the transition altitude is accomplished at the assigned flight level with reference to, and clearances given in, feet (eg. FL330). However, altitudes below the transition level are assigned in metres. Aircraft can fly at the assigned altitude using an altimeter that indicates in metres or, if fitted with altimeters that read in feet, by conversion of the assigned altitude/level.
Text from the Wikipedia article “Korean Air Cargo Flight 6316” (revision 1372751732, retrieved 2026-09-18) by its authors, under CC BY-SA 4.0. Extracted as plain text: references, tables, images and some sections are left out. Read the article
Sources
Wikipedia article: Korean Air Cargo Flight 6316
- Article
- Korean Air Cargo Flight 6316
- Revision
- 1372751732 · 2026-09-02 · retrieved 2026-09-18
- Wikidata
- Q12592687
- Licence
- Text CC BY-SA 4.0, by the article's authors; Wikidata CC0; town positions GeoNames (CC BY 4.0)
NTSB record DCA99RA056
- Event ID
- 20001205X00447
- Case number
- DCA99RA056
- Dataset
- historical-pre2008
- Source SHA-256
- 89e2df6d848e7ab3b42e7d7c7a03ff403303057a26ca04c95b3ea67201c3ce74
Where each value comes from
- Record
- Wikipedia article "Korean Air Cargo Flight 6316" (page 41425509, revision 1372751732); merged with NTSB case DCA99RA056 (events / aircraft)
- Date
- Wikipedia infobox: date
- Place and country
- Wikipedia infobox: site
- Map position
- Wikipedia: Wikipedia article coordinates
- Aircraft, operator and route
- Wikipedia infobox: aircraft type, registration, operator, origin and destination; route airports from the linked airport articles' Wikidata codes (OurAirports); gaps and aircraft details from NTSB record DCA99RA056
- Operation
- airline flight number in the infobox
- Fatalities
- Wikipedia: Wikipedia infobox: total_fatalities
- Ground fatalities
- Wikipedia: Wikipedia infobox: ground fatalities
- Summary
- Wikipedia infobox: summary
Source notes (2)
- One occurrence in two sources, merged: the Wikipedia article "Korean Air Cargo Flight 6316" and NTSB case DCA99RA056, matched by the same aircraft maker and place and date. For this event outside the United States Wikipedia's values are used where the two differ; each value names its source.
- No bulk values were replaced by the NTSB case API.