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Asiana Airlines Flight 991 (OZ991, AAR991) was a cargo flight which crashed into the Korea Strait on 28 July 2011. The two crew members aboard died. The aircraft involved, a Boeing 747-400F freighter, was operating Asiana Airlines' scheduled international cargo service from Incheon International Airport, South Korea to Shanghai Pudong International Airport, China. The crash occurred off the coast of Jeju Island after the crew reported a fire in the cargo compartment and had been attempting to divert to Jeju International Airport.

Aircraft

The aircraft that was involved in the accident was a Boeing 747-400F, registered HL7604, which was built in 2006. The aircraft had clocked 26,300 flight hours and was powered by four General Electric CF6-80C2 engines.

Crash

Asiana Flight 991 departed Incheon International Airport at 16:47 UTC on 27 July 2011, or 02:47 AM on 28 July 2011 local time, bound for Shanghai Pudong International Airport. At 4:03 AM, the crew reported a fire and diverted to Jeju Airport for an emergency landing. Radio contact was lost with the aircraft at 4:11AM when it is believed the aircraft crashed 107 kilometers southwest off Jeju Island.

The captain of the flight was 52-year old Choi Sang-gi while the first officer was 44-year old Lee Jeong-woong; together, the two had over 19,000 hours of flight time.

The flight to Shanghai was loaded with 58 tonnes of cargo; 90% of the freight was standard cargo, semi-conductors, mobile phones, liquid crystal displays, and light-emitting diodes. The remainder included 400 kg of lithium batteries, paint, resin solutions and other liquids.

Aftermath

Search and rescue operations conducted by the Republic of Korea Coast Guard recovered parts of the aircraft within a day of the crash, but had not located the flight data recorder (FDR) and cockpit voice recorder (CVR). The search effort involved a total of ten ships from the Coast Guard, the Navy and the Korea Hydrographic and Oceanographic Administration, as well as three helicopters. Nippon Salvage Company of Japan was contracted to provide assistance during the search. The South Korean government also requested the assistance of Singapore and the U.S. Navy in searching for the FDR and CVR. The search was briefly halted on 3 August due to an approaching typhoon, but had resumed by 5 August.

On 17 August 2011, the search team identified the location of 39 parts of the aircraft, including the tail section which is expected to contain the Flight Data Recorder and Cockpit Voice Recorder. The wreckage of the aircraft was reached in late October 2011, and the bodies of the two crewmembers were recovered on 29 October.

According to Asiana, the crash of Flight 991 led to damages to the airline of about $190 million U.S. (200.4 billion won).

The Aviation and Railway Accident Investigation Board (ARAIB) is the investigation agency for aircraft accidents and incidents on South Korean territory.

Asiana Airlines Flight 991

HL7604, the aircraft involved, visiting Los Angeles a month before the crash
Accident summary
Date	July 28, 2011
Type	Under investigation (Possibly In-flight cargo fire)
Site	112 kilometers west of Jeju Island, South Korea 33°32′N 124°50′E
Passengers	0
Crew	2
Fatalities	2 (all)
Survivors	0
Aircraft type	Boeing 747-48EF
Operator	Asiana Airlines
Registration	HL7604
Flight origin	Incheon International Airport
Destination	Shanghai Pudong International Airport