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KE917 ICN-ZRH diverted to STR after intercept

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KE917 ICN-ZRH diverted to STR after intercept

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Old Jul 15, 2017, 3:09 pm
  #1  
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KE917 ICN-ZRH diverted to STR after intercept

KE 917 enroute ICN-ZRH, operated by 777-300ER, reg. HL8011, was intercepted today over Germany by two German Air Force Eurofighters after radio failure squawk 7600.

I first noticed two loud bangs as sonic booms as the fighters chased the 777 and saw it land at STR shortly after under escort of the two fighter jets. The 777 is still on the ground at STR safe and sound.
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Old Jul 15, 2017, 8:09 pm
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Passenger could not get bussed to ZRH apparently, and there were not enough hotel rooms for everyone. Also no way to get any other flight because of the Stuttgart curfew. The flight was initially planned at 21:20 got resheduled at 14:00 the next day.

Poor passengers on the outbound flight, seems like they were already stuck on the tarmac in ICN from 15:00 to 18:30 before they could depart (technical or ATC delay maybe?), and adding to that they land at the wrong airport.

Last edited by benji2227; Jul 15, 2017 at 9:19 pm
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Old Jul 16, 2017, 1:39 am
  #3  
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Aircraft is currently scheduled to depart STR today at 11:00 am local time for ZRH and to depart ZRH for ICN at 2:00 pm.

Yes, pax had to spend the night on cots in the airport terminal provided by the German Red Cross as it was too late to arrange for bus transfers to ZRH and nearby hotels seemed to be fully booked.


picture from local newspaper "Esslinger Zeitung"
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Old Jul 16, 2017, 2:13 am
  #4  
 
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Wow, considering of the high priced KE flights, they better get well compensated.

Not only the flight departs 3h late despite on time boarding, but this!

Probably and hopefully in ZRH the pax waiting overnight could get a hotel.
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Old Jul 16, 2017, 5:04 am
  #5  
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Pax received a breakfast at the airport this morning after their youth hostel-style night and were bussed to Zurich afterwards.

Aircraft left STR at 12:00 pm local for ZRH and is there now.
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Old Jul 16, 2017, 1:08 pm
  #6  
 
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A pretty miserable showing, indeed. Not totally surprising, as STR is not a KE destination. So they have no ground staff there.

However, I also ask myself why the get intercepted with a squawk 7600? This signal clearly means radio failure, i.e. it's not completely unexpected they do not respond. This was the only way they could tell the outside world about their communication problem. For other occurrences, such as hijackings, there are other squawks.

Furthermore, the distance/risk would have been the same to guide them into ZRH (jointly with Swiss Air Force, they work very closely together anyway) and then they would at least have been in the right place ...
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Old Jul 18, 2017, 1:09 am
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Curious to know whether the passengers were actually "forced" to spendthe night in the terminal? I would be the first to jump at getting a hotel or alternate transport at my own expense!
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Old Jul 18, 2017, 5:24 am
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Originally Posted by B-HQC
Curious to know whether the passengers were actually "forced" to spendthe night in the terminal? I would be the first to jump at getting a hotel or alternate transport at my own expense!
Officially "there were no more rooms near the airport". Now the story doesn't say wether some passengers were able to get a room or not, nor if you could simply organize your own room...
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Old Jul 18, 2017, 5:28 am
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Seems like a repeated failure of common sense given how close they were to Zurich
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