The South Korean Government has issued a directive ordering Korean Air (KAL) to enhance maintenance at airports outside South Korea.
The order follows the 22 December crash of a Boeing 747-200F freighter at London Stansted Airport in the UK.
A faulty attitude director indicator is believed to have contributed to this accident. The instrument had been logged as "unreliable in roll" following the inbound flight, and had been serviced by a KAL engineer.
The programme also covers inspection of KAL's Boeing 747-200/300 fleet, which was triggered by an incident at Penang on 9 January (Flight International, 18-24 January). In the incident, a KAL 747-200F freighter lost a trailing edge flap section during its approach. The debris punctured the fuselage, leaving it with a 1.5 x 0.6m (4.9 x 2ft) hole (pictured above).
The directive calls on KAL to increase maintenance staff based abroad, reducing dispatched maintenance staff.
Source: Flight International
