ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- A Korean Air Lines DC-10 cargo plane, apparently trying to take off in the wrong direction on the wrong runway in dense fog, hit a smaller passenger plane Friday at Anchorage International Airport.Seven people were injured and both planes were destroyed.
The KAL jet struck a 12-seat Piper Navajo waiting for takeoff at 2:20 p.m. Anchorage time, a Federal Aviation Administration official said. The Korean plane burst into flames after the collision.
The seven injured, including all three KAL crew members, were taken to Providence Hospital in Anchorage following the collision -- the second fog-related mishap at the airport in the past five days.
'He not only went onto the wrong runway, he went the wrong way,' said Paul Steucke, a spokesman for the FAA in Anchorage. 'He never would have made it.'
Airport personnel said the KAL airliner bound for Los Angeles skidded a long distance down the runway after hitting the smaller plane and veered off into a wooded area where its fuselage -- fully loaded with fuel -- burst into flames. The fire continued to burn several hours later.
The Navajo's right wing was ripped off in the collision and the left folded up against the fuselage, witnesses said.
'It's a bit of a miracle that nobody was seriously injured, especially if you look at the Navajo,' Steucke said.
Two of the injured from the South Central Air (Alaska) Piper Navajo were treated and released. Others were being treated for 'abrasions, lacerations and possible internal injuries,' a hospital spokesman said.
'The Navajo was holding on runway 6-left, waiting for improvement in the weather conditions for takeoff,' said Ronnie Davis, a Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman in Anchorage.
'KAL flight No. 84 was offered the choice of two runways for takeoff -- (runway) 6-left or 32. He chose runway 32 and was advised by the tower to taxi to runway 32 and change radio frequency to the local air control,' she said.
'The tower controller could not see the aircraft due to fog. The KAL aircraft went to runway 24 right -- not 32 as cleared -- and proceeded to take off. It collided with the Navajo holding on runway 6-left.'
She said, 'The sky was obscured and visibility was one-eighth of a mile due to fog,' with an indefinite ceiling and no cloud line.
A National Transportation Safety Board's investigative team from Washington, D.C., was dispatched to the scene.
On Monday, a Boeing 747 Japan Air Lines jet landing in heavy fog smashed into a truck at the airport, critically injuring the lone occupant of the airport vehicle, John Casey, 34, of Anchorage.
A preliminary investigation of that accident indicated that the driver of the truck, who was testing the field for braking, and the plane were talking to different controllers in the tower and got conflicting information. The two controllers were temporarily removed from their jobs.
A woman passenger on the 12-seat Piper Navajo plane Friday said after she was rescued, 'It was a real strange feeling to look up and see the belly of that plane and knowing you're just sitting there - you're a sitting duck.'
The three injured passengers from the Piper Navajo were identifed as E. W. Cornell, Sally Nahorne and Henry Roesch.
Cornell and Ms. Nahorne were treated and released. The others were listed in fair condition.
