Korean A380 hits light poles at LAX

A Korean Airlines A380 from Seoul, with 384 passengers on board was guided onto a taxiway that was too narrow. The flight arrived Wednesday afternoon, and was taxiing to a remote gate at LAX, when a truck guiding it took it onto the wrong taxiway. The planes right wing was found to be "scratched", and two 30 foot light poles were bent.

The plane was replaced by a Boeing 747 for the return flight Wednesday night, after an 11 hour delay. There were no injuries reported.

abcnews.go.com...

I'd be checking my pants after something like that!

Do you think the entire wing will need to be replaced?

a reply to: Zaphod58

The guy driving the guiding truck's last words : oooops..

His boss' last words : You're fired..

Call me paranoid but when I hear of stuff like that, I always wonder how seriously the repairs to the craft are done. Every time a plane goes down, I wonder if it isn't caused by another "previous accident" like this one right here.

I fully understand that I am probably 100% wrong on this though.

a reply to: SonoftheSun

There have been a couple. JAL 123 is the biggest one. They're usually pretty careful about the repairs though. If it comes back that the repairs caused the crash, it opens a huge liability factor for whoever did the repairs (in the case of JAL, Boeing).

a reply to: MystikMushroom

They should be able to just patch the section that was damaged.

a reply to: Zaphod58

Thanks for the answer even if it's a scary one.

I don't hate flying as much as I used to but things like this wouldn't stop me from flying but it just stays there, on the back of my mind..

Two 30 ft poles bent. Scratches on the wing.

My car was just rammed into by someone that thought his rear mirrors were there as decorations. From the exterior, it just looked like a bent sidefront and bumber. Internal damages were bad though.

So scratches on the wings could potentially hide something else underneath. Hope it's properly taken care of.

a reply to: SonoftheSun

They'll tear into the wing and replace any damage to the internal structure before it flies out of LA. It'll probably be there a couple weeks. Either that, or they'll fly it empty back to Toulouse for repairs at the factory.

JAL 123 was an aberration. I've seen some pretty badly damaged planes go back into service and never have another problems.

I wonder why this airports that is landing this large plane has not taken the time to check all the taxi ways, etc.

Seem like common sense to be aware of clearance.

a reply to: roadgravel

LAX usually uses specific taxiways for the A380. This particular one was using a "Follow Me" truck, unlike normally. The truck driver is the one that led them onto the wrong taxiway. Pilots are told to obey the truck, and if the driver screws up, they're going to follow him.

originally posted by: Zaphod58
a reply to: roadgravel

LAX usually uses specific taxiways for the A380. This particular one was using a "Follow Me" truck, unlike normally. The truck driver is the one that led them onto the wrong taxiway. Pilots are told to obey the truck, and if the driver screws up, they're going to follow him.

So you suspect they know which taxi ways are OK but this man, leading aircraft, does not. Known as a fail in my book.

a reply to: roadgravel

It's a total fail. I used to do that (not on tight taxiways, but through some tight areas with other aircraft). The A380 has a wingspan 50 feet longer than a 747 (25 on either side). That's easy to misjudge. It may look like it'll clear until you get to the tighter area.

Yeah wing growth in a turn can be a real b**ch if your not on your game. I watched a rookie tug driver last week nearly bend a wing on a Qantas A380 into its hangar by turning too early while the nose gear was still inside said hangar to avoid some Dash 8's behind.

LAX cant seem to turn a trick with A-380s and wings lately. Our guys there managed to run a 380 into one our 747's about 6-8 week back. Both aircraft suffered damage with the 380 loosing a lower wing fence and damage to the O/B aileron while the 747 suffered a nice gash in the lower wing surface and loss of its winglet. Both aircraft were patched and flown home for permanent repair.

BTW Zaph, I saw some very nice pics and video today of a CF-6 on an A-330 that popped a turbine out of Hong Kong a couple of days back. It looked like a shotgun had been fired a couple of dozen times down the tailpipe. When the guys dropped the flaps to do a vis inspection, pieces of turbine blade showered onto the hardstand. Amazingly the engine continued to run all the way till they shut it down. And that's despite EGT spiking to over 1000C when it blew. a reply to: Zaphod58