GENERAL INFORMATION

NARRATIVE

[O] On August 6, 1997, about 0142:26 Guam local time, Korean Air flight 801, a Boeing 747-3B5B (747-300), Korean registration HL7468, operated by Korean Air Company, Ltd., crashed at Nimitz Hill, Guam. Flight 801 departed from Kimpo International Airport, Seoul, Korea, with 2 pilots, 1 flight engineer, 14 flight attendants, and 237 passengers on board. The airplane had been cleared to land on runway 6L at A.B. Won Guam International Airport, Agana, Guam, and crashed into high terrain about 3 miles southwest of the airport. Of the 254 persons on board, 228 were killed, and 23 passengers and 3 flight attendants survived the accident with serious injuries. The airplane was destroyed by impact forces and a postcrash fire. Flight 801 was operating in U.S. airspace as a regularly scheduled international passenger service flight under the Convention of International Civil Aviation and the provisions of 14 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 129 and was on an instrument flight rules flight plan. [Recommendations] A-00-14. Require, within 10 years, that all nonprecision approaches approved for air carrier use incorporate a constant angle of descent with vertical guidance from on-board navigation systems. [Responses] FAA LTR DTD: 4/4/00 The FAA agrees with the intent of this safety recommendation. On July 15, 1999, the FAA issued Terminal Instrument Procedures Instruction Letter 99-014, Adding Descent Angles to Nonprecision Approach Charts. The letter provides policy guidance for publication of descent angles on all nonprecision approach procedures. The guidance includes criteria for development of the angle, as well as documentation of these angles on the FAA 8260 series forms. I have enclosed a copy of the letter for the Board's information. On February 24, 2000, the FAA issued a special notice in the publication entitled Notices to Airmen advising pilots of the publication of angles on all nonprecision approaches. The FAA has established a priority schedule for implementing these angles. The first priority will be for all 14 CFR Part 139 airports, the second priority will be all runways that are 5,000 feet or longer, and the third priority is all remaining airports. A production plan for publishing the specific procedures for each of these priorities is being developed. I have enclosed a copy of the special notice for the Board's information. In addition to angles on nonprecision approaches, the FAA has established a new concept called Instrument Procedure with Vertical Guidance, which has a stand-alone area navigation procedure with lateral and vertical guidance. The Instrument Procedure with Vertical Guidance will support the advanced vertical navigation capability of commercial aircraft being produced today. A production plan for publishing the Instrument Procedure with Vertical Guidance procedures is currently being developed. I will keep the Board informed of the FAA's progress on this safety recommendation. NTSB LTR DTD: 6/27/00 The FAA reports that it has taken several actions in response to this safety recommendation. On July 15, 1999, the FAA issued Terminal Instrument Procedures Instruction Letter 99-014, "Adding Descent Angles to Nonprecision Approach Charts." The FAA reports that this letter provides policy guidance for publication of descent angles on all nonprecision approach procedures. The guidance includes criteria for development of the angle, as well as documentation of these angles on the FAA 8260 series forms. On February 24, 2000, the FAA issued a special notice in Notices to Airmen advising pilots of the publication of angles on all nonprecision approaches. The FAA further reports that it has established a priority schedule for implementing these angles. The FAA states that its first priority is to implement these angles for all 14 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 139 airports; its second priority is to implement these angles for all runways that are 5,000 feet or longer, and the third priority is to implement these angles at all remaining airports. In addition to establishing angles on nonprecision approaches, the FAA also reports that it has established a new concept, called Instrument Procedure with Vertical Guidance, which has a stand-alone area navigation procedure with lateral and vertical guidance. The FAA reports that this procedure will support the advanced vertical navigation capability of commercial aircraft being produced today. In its report on the Guam accident, the Safety Board noted the FAA's progress in the publication of descent angles on non-precision approaches and, in Safety Recommendation A-00-15, the Board urged the FAA to provide information about barometric altitudes and distances from the airport to facilitate execution of the published constant angle descent. The Board's aim in issuing Safety Recommendation A-00-14 was to move beyond the approximation of a constant angle of descent (as pilots follow published data using descent rate, distance, and altitude guidance) to the preferable situation in which approaches incorporate vertical guidance. The FAA's efforts to establish the new instrument procedure with vertical guidance concept may be responsive to this safety recommendation. Pending notice from the FAA on further developments to incorporate a constant angle of descent with vertical guidance from on-board navigation systems, Safety Recommendation A-00-14 is classified "Open Acceptable Response." FAA LTR DTD: 8/21/01 On February 24, 2000, the FAA issued a special notice in the publication entitled Notices to Airmen advising pilots of the publication of angles on all nonprecision approaches. The FAA established a priority schedule for implementing these angles, and a production plan for publishing the specific procedures for each of these priorities has been developed. The first priority for adding descent angles to nonprecision approaches is the set of 1,946 nonprecision approaches serving 14 CFR Part 139 airports. Of these 1,946 nonprecision approaches, 1,245 (64 percent) have been accomplished. The FAA expected to have the remaining 36 percent completed in 2002. These angles may be used to enter the descent table in the back of the U.S. Terminal Procedures Book to determine rates of descent appropriate to ground speed used. Once the first priority is completed, the FAA will proceed with the second priority which will be to add descent angles to nonprecision approaches for all runways that are 5,000 feet or longer, and the third priority is to add these approaches to all remaining airports. The FAA anticipates completing the second priority in 2005 and the third priority in 2010. The production plan for developing an Instrument Procedure with Vertical Guidance is available at the following web site (http://www.mmac.jccbi.gov/avn/iap/production.html). The FAA is converting the production schedule to reflect proposed publication dates. It is anticipated that this conversion will occur in October 2001. The Instrument Procedure with Vertical Guidance will support the advanced vertical navigation capability of commercial aircraft being produced today. Additional guidance for air carriers regarding stabilized approaches using flight management systems with VNAV capability is included in Flight Standards Handbook Bulletin for Air Transportation 00-18, Use of BARO-VNAV for Published Instrument Approach Procedures; OpSpec C052 Revision. I have enclosed a copy of the bulletin for the Board's information. I will keep the Board informed of the outcome of this effort in response to this safety recommendation. NTSB LTR DTD: 1/23/02 On February 24, 2000, the FAA issued a special notice in Notices to Airmen advising pilots of its plans to publish descent angles on all nonprecision approach charts. In that notice, the FAA outlined a priority schedule for publishing these angles. The FAA states that the first priority for adding descent angles to nonprecision approach charts is the set of 1,946 nonprecision approaches serving 14 CFR Part 139 airports, 1,245 (64 percent) of which have been accomplished. The FAA expects to have the remaining 36 percent completed in 2002. The FAA further reports that after the first priority is completed, its second priority will be to add descent angles to nonprecision approach charts for all runways that are 5,000 feet or longer, and the third priority will be to add these approaches for all remaining airports. The FAA anticipates completing the second priority in 2005 and the third priority in 2010. The Safety Board is pleased to learn of the FAA's schedule for publication of descent angles for all nonprecision approaches. However, the need remains for a requirement to use these angles once they have been published. Pending development and issuance of such a requirement, Safety Recommendation A-00-14 remains classified "Open Acceptable Response." NTSB LTR DTD: 2/23/04 The Safety Board notes that, to date, the FAA has incorporated a constant-angle-of-descent to approximately 90 percent of the nonprecision approaches for the Part 139 airports that serve air carriers. The FAA reported that the remaining approaches are scheduled to have the information added during their normal publishing cycle, which will be completed by September 2007. The Board believes that, with most of the nonprecision approaches completed and the remainder on a firm completion schedule, the FAA's action meets the intent of the recommendation. Accordingly, Safety Recommendation A-00-14 is classified "Closed-Acceptable Action." 5

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