Korean Air Flight Forced to Return After Mid-Air Scare
In a dramatic turn of events, a Korean Air flight bound for Taiwan was forced to return to Incheon Airport, located west of Seoul, after a sudden depressurisation occurred on the plane, a Boeing 737 Max 8. The incident, which took place on Saturday, left 19 of the 133 passengers on board suffering from ear pain and nosebleeds. Thankfully, none of the injuries were serious, according to the transport ministry.
“The cause of the problem is currently under investigation,” the ministry stated. The aircraft has been grounded, and South Korea’s transport ministry has mandated that the country’s 11 airlines inspect the pressurization systems of all their 400 aircraft.
The depressurisation happened approximately 50 minutes into the Korean Air flight, causing the aircraft to make an emergency return to Incheon.
In a separate incident, Malaysia Airlines reported that one of its flights, en route to Bangkok on Monday, had to make a U-turn back to Kuala Lumpur. The Airbus A-330 experienced a “pressurisation issue,” leading the pilots to initiate an emergency descent. Notably, the aircraft had not yet reached an altitude of 8,000 feet, and oxygen masks were not deployed. Flight MH780 was carrying 164 passengers and 12 crew members. An investigation is underway to determine the cause.
The Boeing 737 Max has a troubled history, with two major crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia in 2018 and 2019, respectively, that resulted in the deaths of 346 people. These incidents led the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and other global regulators to ground the aircraft worldwide for over a year and a half. Concerns were reignited earlier this year when a panel blew out of a 737 Max during an Alaska Airlines flight in January, although no one was seriously injured.
