South Korean officers have vowed to find out what caused a Boeing 737-800 passenger jet operated by Jeju Air to crash into flames because it tried to land over the weekend, killing all but two of the 181 people on board. A day after the catastrophe, there have been nonetheless much more questions than solutions in regards to the nation’s worst aviation catastrophe in a long time.
Authorities ordered a right away inspection of all 737-800 plane operated by the nation’s airways — dozens of planes in complete — following the crash, however there was nonetheless no clear indication as as to if a system malfunction, human error, or some mixture of things had induced the catastrophe.
Here’s a have a look at what is understood in regards to the Jeju Air crash, and a few key questions rising within the wake of the tragedy.
What occurred within the South Korean aircraft crash?
Jeju Air flight 7C 2216 departed from Bangkok, Thailand, and approached for its scheduled touchdown Sunday at Muan Worldwide Airport in southern South Korea.
After an preliminary failed touchdown try, the Boeing 737-800 acquired a chook strike warning from the bottom management heart. It then ascended once more earlier than attempting to land a second time.
Two minutes later, the aircraft’s crew despatched a misery sign and tried to land on a unique runway. The aircraft touched down three minutes later with out decreasing its nostril touchdown gear.
It skidded alongside the runway at excessive pace, overshot the top of the runway and slammed right into a concrete fence, bursting right into a fireball. The one survivors have been two crew members rescued from the tail part.
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Observers say movies of the crash advised the aircraft was affected by suspected engine hassle, however the touchdown gear malfunction was probably the primary purpose for the crash.
South Korean Transport Ministry officers mentioned the aircraft’s flight information and cockpit audio recorders — the so-called “black bins” — have been moved to a analysis heart at Seoul’s Gimpo Worldwide Airport forward of research. The ministry earlier mentioned it could take months to finish the investigation of the crash.
“I feel the cockpit voice recorder, in the event that they’re in a position to learn that out, that will probably be key to unlocking this thriller,” Robert Sumwalt, former chair of the U.S. Nationwide Transportation Security Board, instructed CBS Information.
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Jeju Air mentioned the crash was not because of “any upkeep points,” in accordance with South Korea’s Yonhap information company, and aviation professional Geoffrey Thomas told BBC News that South Korea’s airways have been broadly deemed to comply with “trade greatest follow” and that each the aircraft and Jeju Air had an “glorious security file.”
South Korean aircraft skidded right into a fence shielding antennas
Transport Ministry officers mentioned Monday that they might look at whether or not the fence the aircraft hit — a concrete construction which housed a set of antennas designed to information plane safely throughout landings — ought to have been made with lighter supplies that may break extra simply upon affect. They mentioned they have been additionally attempting to determine whether or not there have been any communication issues between air visitors controllers and the pilot.
The positioning of the localizer antennas near the top of the runway behind unforgiving fortifications will probably catch the attention of investigators.
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“Usually, on an airport with a runway on the finish, you do not have a wall,” Christian Beckert, a flight security professional and pilot for German provider Lufthansa instructed the Reuters information company. “You extra [often] have perhaps an engineered materials arresting system, which lets the airplane sink into the bottom slightly bit” to sluggish it down.
May a chook strike have induced the Jeju Air catastrophe?
Lee Jeong-hyun, the chief of the native Muan fireplace division, mentioned Sunday {that a} chook strike and dangerous climate may have contributed to the crash, however he confused that the trigger was nonetheless below investigation.
In accordance with CBS Information associate community BBC Information, one passenger on the flight had messaged a relative earlier than the catastrophe and mentioned a chook “was caught within the wing” and that it could not land, however officers haven’t but confirmed whether or not there was any chook strike.
Geoffrey Thomas, the professional cited by BBC and the editor of Airline Information, instructed Reuters individually that he was skeptical a chook strike alone may have induced the lethal crash.
“A chook strike will not be uncommon. Issues with an undercarriage are usually not uncommon. Chook strikes occur much more usually, however sometimes they do not trigger the lack of an airplane by themselves,” he mentioned.
Why wasn’t the touchdown gear deployed?
It remained unclear what, if any, engine or programs failures the flight crew might need been contending with in the previous couple of minutes of the ill-fated flight. Consultants have mentioned video of the crash confirmed no obvious motion of the aircraft’s flaps because it got here down, which will help sluggish an plane, suggesting there may have been a lack of hydraulic strain that controls the mechanical gadgets.
The hydraulic management programs function independently, and specialists mentioned an engine drawback could be unlikely to have an effect on their operation.
The plane additionally has a guide override for pilots to decrease touchdown gear within the occasion of an digital or mechanical failure. It was unclear if the Jeju Air crew merely did not have time to decrease the nostril wheels manually, or if another issue may have prevented them from doing so.
Sumwalt, the previous NTSB chair, instructed CBS Information, “I flew 737s for 10 years as a captain, and I can say that the touchdown gear might be manually deployed, so the true query will probably be, what arrange the sequence of occasions right here? Did the chook strike arrange the sequence of occasions the place the crew received rushed and didn’t deploy the touchdown gear? I doubt that there was any form of a malfunction with the gear, on condition that it may be deployed manually and thru the conventional means.”
An extended, arduous yr for U.S. aviation large Boeing
The crash wrapped up a troubling 2024 for U.S. aviation large Boeing, which has grappled with safety problems, a machinists strike and plunging stock prices.
Consultants say the 737-800 plane is a extra confirmed mannequin than the corporate’s much-maligned 737 Max jetliners, which have been linked to fatal crashes in 2018 and 2019.
“I feel it is crucial to separate this crash … from the problems that Boeing has had over the current previous,” Sumwalt mentioned. “This airplane is 15 years previous, so it was most likely not a producing difficulty if the airplane is that previous and flew 1000’s of hours. It isn’t a design difficulty. So I do not assume that Boeing goes to take a direct hit due to this one.”
Nonetheless, South Korean authorities mentioned they will conduct security inspections on all of the 737-800s operated by home airways, together with 39 by Jeju Air.
contributed to this report.
