Aviation experts and investigators are weighing compounding factors that led to Sunday’s tragic Jeju Air crash at Muan International Airport in South Korea, which claimed dozens of lives and left only two survivors.
The Boeing 737-800 (Flight 7C2216), carrying 175 passengers and six crew members from Bangkok, Thailand, landed on its belly, skidded across the runway, and slammed into a wall, erupting into flames.
Authorities attribute the crash to a possible landing gear malfunction. Video footage captures the aircraft sliding down the runway with no visible landing gear, sparking before colliding with a barrier.
The plane’s pilot issued a mayday call to the control tower approximately one minute after agreeing to air traffic controllers’ request to switch landing runways in order to avoid a potential bird strike, according to a briefing from the Land Ministry. The aircraft then struck navigation equipment on the ground before crashing into a wall.
Investigators are also exploring whether severe weather played a role.
Black box
Investigators have retrieved the flight data recorder called black box, a critical tool for unraveling the incident. However, the missing cockpit voice recorder hampers efforts to understand the final moments inside the cockpit.
Aviation safety experts suspect both human and technical failures as potential contributors. The crash has puzzled analysts, particularly given the strong safety record of the Boeing 737-800 model.
CNN quoted an aviation analyst, as saying, “This specific Boeing 737-800 is considered a dependable aircraft, and its history does not align with this type of catastrophic failure”.
Rescue teams persist in their search for answers and survivors, though the chances of finding additional survivors grow slimmer.
The disaster marked South Korea’s worst aviation accident since 1997 but has also raised urgent questions about what caused the tragic final moments of Jeju Air Flight 7C2216.
Apology
Jeju Air has issued a public apology on Sunday, December 29 following the horrible crash of one of its flights at South Korea’s Muan International Airport.
In a statement posted on their official social media account, the airline’s management has expressed apology for the incident and vowed to take every possible action to swiftly respond to the tragedy.
“We at Jeju Air will do everything in our power in response to this accident. We sincerely apologize for causing concern,” the statement, originally in Korean and translated into English, read.
Reymund Titong is a Filipino journalist steadily building his voice in the field of news reporting, driven by a commitment to tell meaningful and relevant stories.
He serves as a correspondent for Rappler, maintains a personal blog on Medium, and is the communications officer of Hope Builders Organization Negros Island.