Asiana B763 near Fukuoka on Apr 19th 2014, engine problem, flight continued, crew suspended

An Asiana Boeing 767-300, registration HL7514 performing flight OZ-603 from Seoul (South Korea) to Saipan,MP (USA), was enroute at FL350 over the East China Sea when the aircraft encountered problems with one of the engines (CF6). The crew decided to continue to Saipan on the Northern Mariana Islands (north of Guam), maintained FL350 and landed the aircraft safely in Saipan about 3 hours later.

A replacement Boeing 767-300 was dispatched from Seoul to Saipan as flight OZ-6033, performed the return flight as OZ-6043 and reached Seoul with a delay of 11 hours.

The incident aircraft positioned back to Seoul on Apr 21st 2014 and resumed service on Apr 22nd 2014.

South Korea's Ministry of Transport reported that according to regulations concerning the failure of an engine the aircraft should have diverted to the nearest suitable airport, in this case Fukuoka (Japan). The crew thus had been in violation of regulations. The crew has been suspended for 30 days, the airline was fined.

Saipan is located about 1385nm southeast of Fukuoka across the Philippine Sea.