Korean Air Flight 903 runway excursion
Boeing 747 · Runway excursion after striking an iron fence during takeoff
From Gimpo International Airport to Zurich Airport
Event
- 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
- Event fatalities
- Unknown
- Ground fatalities
- Unknown
- Occupants
- Unknown
- Survivors
- Unknown
- 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
- Unknown
- 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
Boeing 747
- Aircraft type
- Boeing 747
- 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
- HL7447
- Operator
- Korean Air
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Gimpo International AirportTo Zurich Airport
Approximate · Estimated position: Ninoy Aquino International Airport, the airport the Wikipedia article names as the site. Where on or near it is not known.
From the Wikipedia article
The Korean Air Flight 903 runway accident was an accident on 15 September 1981 in which the Boeing 747-230B airliner of Korean Air Flight 903, which had departed from Gimpo International Airport in Seoul and was scheduled to arrive at Zurich Airport in Switzerland after stopping over at Ninoy Aquino International Airport in Manila, Philippines, and Bahrain International Airport, braked hard because of an engine problem while taking off from the stopover Ninoy Aquino International Airport, overran the runway, broke through an iron fence and went out as far as the front of an expressway.
Accident overview
In this accident, which occurred on 15 September 1981, about 40 of the 378 people on board were injured, and the aircraft suffered damage to the lower fuselage, the main gear, the right wing, the engines and other parts; as in the Korean Air Flight 8702 runway excursion, scrapping the aircraft was considered, but the insurer notified that it could be repaired, and the aircraft returned to service after being repaired on site for 1 month; because the insurer bore the full cost of the repairs, Korean Air was able to avoid a greater loss.
Translated into English with AI assistance from the Korean Wikipedia article “대한항공 903편 활주로 이탈 사고” (revision 41370600, retrieved 2026-09-19) by its authors, under CC BY-SA 4.0. Extracted as plain text: references, tables, images and some sections are left out; the translation may contain errors, and long articles were cut to their first 700 words. Read the article
Sources
Korean Wikipedia article: 대한항공 903편 활주로 이탈 사고
- Article
- 대한항공 903편 활주로 이탈 사고
- Translation
- Into English with AI assistance; names of linked operators and aircraft types from Wikidata. It may contain errors.
- Revision
- 41370600 · 2026-02-17 · retrieved 2026-09-19
- Wikidata
- Q109458728
- Licence
- Text CC BY-SA 4.0, by the article's authors; Wikidata CC0; town positions GeoNames (CC BY 4.0)
Where each value comes from
- Record
- ko Wikipedia article "대한항공 903편 활주로 이탈 사고" (page 2833464, revision 41370600), translated into English with AI assistance
- Date
- Wikipedia infobox: date
- Place and country
- Wikipedia infobox: site
- Map position
- 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)
- Operation
- flight number in the article title
- Fatalities
- not stated in the Wikipedia infobox
- Ground fatalities
- not stated in the Wikipedia infobox
- Summary
- Wikipedia infobox: summary
Source notes (1)
- Wikipedia · Facts from the Korean Wikipedia article's infobox, translated into English with AI assistance, not checked against an investigation report. Independent review pending.