Korean Air Plane Narrowly Avoids Collision With Air Busan Aircraft; Probe Initiated

A major disaster was averted at Gimpo airport in Seoul when a Korean Air passenger plane came into a near-collision with an Air Busan plane. The Korean Air passenger plane landed at the airport after completing its flight from Jeju Airport and entered the runway, at the same time, the Air Busan aircraft was at the runway in the process to take off, as per Business Korea's report. After the pilot of the Air Busan aircraft was aware of the situation, he responded by taking the flight nosed up and avoiding a crash narrowly.

A video showing the close contact of the two aircraft was released by a flight tracking website. The video shows the landing of the Korean Air plane and its movement toward the runway. A few seconds in, the Air Busan aircraft can be seen beginning its process to take off on the runway and finally leaving the ground to avoid collision with the Boeing aircraft on the runway.

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A delay in the take-off of the Air Busan aircraft could have ended in a major disaster. The Air Busan aircraft involved in the incident was reported to be an Airbus A321-200 aircraft with 195 seats. While Korean Air was operating a Boeing 737-900 aircraft, which has a capacity of carrying around 200 passengers.

Korean Air 737 almost collides with a departing Air Busan A321 after crossing the runway into its path at Seoul's Gimpo Airport. The authorities are investigating the serious incident. pic.twitter.com/wZyECJrjmr

— Breaking Aviation News & Videos (@aviationbrk) April 21, 2023

The Seoul Regional Aviation Authority, an agency under the Korean Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, and Transport, is in charge of the runway and aircraft movement area at Gimpo Airport. As per Business Korea, the authorities have launched an investigation to get the details of the incident.

The report quotes Korean Air saying,"The fuselage of our aircraft did not enter the runway where the Air Busan aircraft was taking off,” adding, “At that time, we stopped after passing a waiting line about 70 meters away from the edge of the runway. However, we have confirmed that there was a communication problem between the flight crew and the airport controller. We will examine the incident thoroughly."