Korean Air Flight 1533
McDonnell Douglas MD-83 · Runway overrun caused by pilot error
From Seoul Gimpo International Airport (GMP) to Pohang Airport (G-815/K-3) (KPO)
Event
- NTSB case
- DCA99WA048
- 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
- 0 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- Unknown
- Occupants
- 156
- Survivors
- 156
- 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
- 76
- 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
- Unknown
McDonnell Douglas MD-83
- Aircraft type
- McDonnell Douglas MD-83
- Category
- Airplane
- 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
- HL7570
- Operator
- Korean Air
- Onboard fatalities
- 0
- Route
- From Seoul Gimpo International Airport (GMP)To Pohang Airport (G-815/K-3) (KPO)
- 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
- Non-U.S., Commercial
- 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
- Substantial
Cause areas
- Personnel issues › Task performance
- Personnel issues › Action/decision
From the investigation findings the Wikipedia article reports, sorted into the NTSB's cause areas with AI assistance.
Approximate · Estimated position: Pohang Airport (G-815/K-3), the airport the Wikipedia article names as the site. Where on or near it is not known.
From the Wikipedia article
Korean Air Flight 1533 was a domestic passenger flight from Gimpo International Airport to Pohang Airport. On March 15, 1999, the McDonnell Douglas MD-83 operating the flight overshot runway 10 during landing at Pohang Airport. All 156 people on board survived, but the aircraft was destroyed.
Accident
The aircraft, carrying 156 passengers and crew, departed Gimpo International Airport. During landing at Pohang Airport, the aircraft had to initiate a go-around due to rain and thick clouds.
During the second landing, the aircraft landed 1,500 ft past the threshold of runway 10. For unknown reasons, the flight crew did not activate the thrust reversers until 27 seconds after touchdown, resulting in the aircraft being unable to stop in time. The aircraft overshot the runway, striking 10 antennas and a barbed wire fence in the process, and then crashed into an embankment, with the fuselage breaking into two pieces. There were no fatalities, but 76 passengers were injured. There were heavy winds at the time of the accident. The aircraft was damaged beyond repair and was declared a hull loss, making the accident the 11th hull loss of an McDonnell Douglas MD-80.
Investigation and cause
Investigation
The Ministry of Construction and Transportation, and the Republic of Korea Navy both investigated the accident. The cause of the accident was determined to be pilot error due to the flight crew's delayed activation of the thrust reversers, the late touch down, and failing to initiate a second go-around.
Text from the Wikipedia article “Korean Air Flight 1533” (revision 1353717223, 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 Flight 1533
- Article
- Korean Air Flight 1533
- Revision
- 1353717223 · 2026-05-11 · retrieved 2026-09-18
- Wikidata
- Q12592686
- Licence
- Text CC BY-SA 4.0, by the article's authors; Wikidata CC0; town positions GeoNames (CC BY 4.0)
NTSB record DCA99WA048
- Event ID
- 20001205X00297
- Case number
- DCA99WA048
- Dataset
- historical-pre2008
- Source SHA-256
- 89e2df6d848e7ab3b42e7d7c7a03ff403303057a26ca04c95b3ea67201c3ce74
Where each value comes from
- Record
- Wikipedia article "Korean Air Flight 1533" (page 61420118, revision 1353717223); merged with NTSB case DCA99WA048 (events / aircraft)
- Date
- Wikipedia infobox: date
- Place and country
- Wikipedia infobox: site
- Map position
- Wikipedia: airport the Wikipedia infobox site links (Wikidata code, OurAirports)
- 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 DCA99WA048
- Operation
- flight number in the article title
- Fatalities
- Wikipedia: Wikipedia infobox: aircraft fatalities
- Ground fatalities
- Wikipedia: not stated in the Wikipedia infobox
- Summary
- Wikipedia infobox: summary
Source notes (2)
- One occurrence in two sources, merged: the Wikipedia article "Korean Air Flight 1533" and NTSB case DCA99WA048, 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.