The aircraft operating Flight 2708 was a Boeing 777-3B5 equipped with two Pratt & Whitney PW4000 engines, registered HL7534, serial number 27950. The 120th Boeing 777 produced, it first flew on 4 February 1998, and was delivered new to Korean Air on 28 December 1999. The captain, 49, had logged a total of 10,410 flight hours, including 3,205 hours on the Boeing 777. The first officer, 41, had 5,788 hours with 2,531 of them on the Boeing 777.
Accident
As the aircraft was taking off from Runway 34R at Tokyo Haneda, the pilots heard a loud bang coming from the left. The pilots aborted the takeoff and the aircraft came to a stop, whereupon an evacuation commenced. All the occupants escaped, but 12 passengers were injured and were taken to a hospital near the airport. Incoming flights were diverted to Tokyo's Narita International Airport and to Osaka. The airport firefighters quickly extinguished the fire. The aircraft reportedly travelled 700 metres down the runway before coming to a stop, with engine-parts scattered 600 metres from the point at which the aircraft began accelerating and tire-marks 700 metres from that point.
Investigation
The Japan Transport Safety Board, Korea Aviation Accident Investigation Board, and the United States National Transportation Safety Board all investigated the accident, with assistance from experts in South Korea and the United States. On 30 May 2016, investigators revealed that the LP turbine blades on the left Pratt & Whitney PW4098 engine had "shattered", with fragments piercing the engine cover, with fragments subsequently found on the runway. The engine's HP turbine blades and HP compressor were intact and free of abnormalities, and investigators found no evidence of a bird strike., the investigation into the cause of the accident was still ongoing. The aircraft was repaired and returned to service with Korean Air on 3 June 2016. A later JTSB investigative report, released on 26 July 2018, discussed a significant number of problems related to the failure and the response of the crew and passengers to it. These included poor maintenance standards that overlooked a crack growing in the LP turbine disc in the engine created by metal fatigue that eventually failed, the failure of the crew to locate the list of emergency procedures for use in such an emergency, beginning evacuation of the aircraft whilst the engines were still turning meaning there was a risk of passengers being blown away by the engines, and passengers ignoring instructions to leave luggage behind when using the evacuation slides risking piercing of the slides. As a result of the fire, the FAA issued an Airworthiness Directive mandating inspection of engines of the type involved in the fire to evaluate the condition of the components which failed on Flight 2708.
