What happened
On April 15, 1999, a Korean Air cargo operation, flight KE6316, departed from runway 18 at Shanghai-Hongqiao International Airport. The aircraft, a McDonnell Douglas MD-11F with registration HL7373, was en route to Seoul, Korea. The flight crew consisted of two pilots and one flight technician.
Shortly after the 16:01:35 Beijing local time departure, the autopilot was disengaged. The aircraft initially veered to the right before stabilizing on a track of approximately 200 degrees for over 30 seconds, followed by a turn back to the left. While climbing to a cleared altitude of 1,500 meters, the aircraft transitioned to a heading of NHW at 900 meters.
At 16:04:15, the aircraft reached an altitude of 1,310 meters. Four seconds later, after reaching 1,370 meters, the plane entered a sudden and extremely rapid descent. The aircraft disappeared from airport radar screens and impacted the ground at 16:04:35. The impact site was located 11.6 kilometers from the airport runway centerline at an azimuth of 165 degrees.
Findings
The accident resulted in the total destruction of the aircraft. The crash caused eight fatalities, including all three crew members on board and five individuals on the ground. Additionally, there were 36 injuries, four of which were classified as serious.