SEOUL, Aug 6: Korean Air (KAL) blamed bad weather and faulty equipment at Guam airport for the crash of a KAL Boeing 747-300 today but said a full investigation into the incident was needed.``Circumstantial information leads us to believe that the plane might have crashed because of bad weather and a fault in the airport's GSS (glide slope signal) system,'' KAL vice president Lee Tae-Won said.GSS is an automatic guiding system which sends out electronic signals to guide and support landings. Lee's statement was backed by US national transportation safety board chairman Jim Hall, who agreed that the system had malfunctioned. ``It is my understanding that the GSS was not working,'' Hall said.But human error, mechanical troubles or a combination of both could be the cause of the crash which killed more than 200 people, experts said.First reports from the Pacific island said only about 30 of the 231 passengers and 23 crew on the ill-fated Korean Air Boeing had survived. In Guam, Korean residents who rushed to help with the rescue, said that they had learned from the airport control tower that the pilot's last words were, ``I can make it.''The unconfirmed residents' reports suggested bad weather may not have been a factor in the rash.KAL faced complaints about its frequent delays on the popular Seoul-Guam route at the peak of vacation seasion, while trying to make a forced landing.``It hit a navy fuel line as it was scraping in,'' Carl Gutierrez, the island's Governor, told BBC.
