Incident Description
On 28 May 2015, Eastar Jet flight 7942, a Boeing 737-800 registered as HL8292, departed from Zhengzhou Xinzheng International Airport for Cheongju International Airport. At approximately 15:52 Korean Standard Time, the flight crew was decelerating after landing on runway 24R when they observed a Phantom fighter jet that had landed earlier and had not yet vacated the runway. The crew immediately stopped the aircraft, which came to a halt approximately 3,000 feet (1,000 meters) behind the fighter jet. No personal injuries or aircraft damage occurred.
Probable Cause
The Aviation and Railway Accident Investigation Board (ARAIB) determined that the probable causes of the serious incident were the misjudgment and inattention of the tower controller, who failed to instruct HL8292 to reduce approach speed or make a go-around to prepare for the possibility that the preceding fighter jet and the succeeding HL8292 would get near to each other on the same runway; and the inattention of the flight crew, who failed to check the fighter jet’s landing runway direction (24R) and observe the fighter jet constantly.
Contributing Factors
The ARAIB identified the contributing factors as the tower controller’s failure to provide HL8292 with traffic information on the preceding fighter jet’s landing runway direction (24R), and the tower controller’s inadequate use of ATC phraseology when instructing the fighter jet to vacate the runway.
Investigation and Recommendations
As a result of the investigation, the ARAIB issued three safety recommendations to the ROK Air Force (Cheongju Control Tower) and one safety recommendation to Eastar Jet.