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Korean Air Flight 581 loading accident

9 Jan 2002 · Sydney Kingsford Smith International Airport

McDonnell Douglas MD-11 · Mistake by ground staff during cargo loading/unloading

From Gimpo International Airport, Seoul to Sydney Kingsford Smith International Airport

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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
Occurrence
Event fatalities
Unknown
Ground fatalities
Unknown
Occupants
Unknown
Survivors
10
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

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
HL7372
Operator
Korean Air
Onboard fatalities
Unknown
Route
From Gimpo International Airport, SeoulTo Sydney Kingsford Smith International Airport

Approximate · Estimated position: Sydney Kingsford Smith 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 581 loading accident was an incident on 9 January 2002 in which a mistake was made in the cargo unloading process of the Korean Air Flight 851 freighter at Sydney Kingsford Smith International Airport. There were no casualties.

Translated into English with AI assistance from the Korean Wikipedia article “대한항공 581편 적재 사고” (revision 41976474, 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 581편 적재 사고
Article
대한항공 581편 적재 사고
Translation
Into English with AI assistance; names of linked operators and aircraft types from Wikidata. It may contain errors.
Revision
41976474 · 2026-06-22 · retrieved 2026-09-19
Wikidata
Q110114733
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 581편 적재 사고" (page 2879886, revision 41976474), 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.