Asiana plane hits antenna in Japan runway undershoot
16 April 2015 6:16 AM IST
An Asiana Airways plane smashed into a communications antenna as it came in to land at a Japanese airport, footage showed on Wednesday, injuring 27 people in an accident redolent of the airline’s fatal 2013 crash in San Francisco.
Aerial footage from Hiroshima airport in western Japan showed the localiser -- a large gate-like structure, six metres (18 feet) high that sits some distance from the start of the runway -- splintered, with debris spread towards the landing strip.
Sets of wheelmarks were visible on the grass area in front of the runway, while at least one large fragment of the localiser -- which aircraft use to find the landing strip -- was on the tarmac.
Several hundred metres away, skid marks showed the Airbus A320 had careered off the runway and rotated more than 90 degrees. What appeared to be a chunk of the localiser was seen dangling from one wing and emergency escape chutes were deployed. Those on board flight OZ162 from Incheon, near Seoul, to Hiroshima, spoke of terror and confusion. “There was smoke coming out and some of the oxygen masks fell down. Cabin attendants were in such a panic and I thought ‘we are going to die’,” a woman told Japanese networks late on Tuesday.
Aerial footage from Hiroshima airport in western Japan showed the localiser -- a large gate-like structure, six metres (18 feet) high that sits some distance from the start of the runway -- splintered, with debris spread towards the landing strip.
Sets of wheelmarks were visible on the grass area in front of the runway, while at least one large fragment of the localiser -- which aircraft use to find the landing strip -- was on the tarmac.
Several hundred metres away, skid marks showed the Airbus A320 had careered off the runway and rotated more than 90 degrees. What appeared to be a chunk of the localiser was seen dangling from one wing and emergency escape chutes were deployed. Those on board flight OZ162 from Incheon, near Seoul, to Hiroshima, spoke of terror and confusion. “There was smoke coming out and some of the oxygen masks fell down. Cabin attendants were in such a panic and I thought ‘we are going to die’,” a woman told Japanese networks late on Tuesday.
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