South Korean officers have vowed to search out out what prompted a Boeing 737-800 passenger jet operated by Jeju Air to crash into flames because it tried to land over the weekend, killing all however two of the 181 individuals on board. Days after the crash, there have been nonetheless way more questions than solutions in regards to the nation’s worst aviation catastrophe in many years.
Authorities ordered an instantaneous 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 prompted the catastrophe.
Consultants from the U.S. Nationwide Transportation Security Board, the Federal Aviation Administration and Boeing had been on the bottom inspecting the crash web site, and the NTSB was set to play an important position in deciphering knowledge from the aircraft’s “black containers,” which report info from the cockpit and plane techniques.
Officers have warned it might be months earlier than any clear solutions emerge. Here’s a have a look at what’s recognized in regards to the Jeju Air crash, and a number of the 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 obtained a fowl 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 reducing its nostril touchdown gear.
It skidded alongside the runway at excessive velocity, overshot the top of the runway and slammed right into a concrete fence, bursting right into a fireball. The one survivors had been two crew members rescued from the tail part.
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Observers say movies of the crash recommended the aircraft was affected by suspected engine bother, however the touchdown gear malfunction was doubtless the principle purpose for the crash.
The aircraft’s flight knowledge and cockpit audio recorders — the so-called “black containers” — had been recovered shortly and first moved to a analysis heart at Seoul’s Gimpo Worldwide Airport for evaluation. On Wednesday, nevertheless, the nation’s deputy minister for civil aviation, Joo Jong-wan, stated the flight knowledge recorder had “been deemed unrecoverable for knowledge extraction domestically,” so it was being despatched to the U.S. for evaluation in collaboration with the NTSB.
Joo stated earlier that “the preliminary extraction has already been accomplished” for the cockpit voice recorder.
“Based mostly on this preliminary knowledge, we plan to begin changing it into audio format,” he advised journalists, that means investigators will doubtless quickly be capable of hear the pilots’ communications through the ill-fated flight.
“I believe the cockpit voice recorder, in the event that they’re capable of learn that out, that can be key to unlocking this thriller,” Robert Sumwalt, former chair of the NTSB, advised CBS Information.
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Jeju Air stated the crash was not resulting from “any upkeep points,” in response to South Korea’s Yonhap information company, and aviation knowledgeable Geoffrey Thomas advised BBC Information that South Korea’s airways had been broadly deemed to observe “business finest apply” and that each the aircraft and Jeju Air had an “glorious security report.”
South Korean aircraft skidded right into a fence shielding antennas
Transport Ministry officers stated 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 might break extra simply upon impression. They stated they had been additionally attempting to ascertain 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 doubtless 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 knowledgeable and pilot for German provider Lufthansa advised the Reuters information company. “You extra [often] have perhaps an engineered materials arresting system, which lets the airplane sink into the bottom a bit bit” to gradual it down.
Might a fowl strike have prompted the Jeju Air catastrophe?
Lee Jeong-hyun, the chief of the native Muan hearth division, stated Sunday {that a} fowl strike and unhealthy climate might have contributed to the crash, however he pressured that the trigger was nonetheless beneath investigation.
In keeping with CBS Information companion community BBC Information, one passenger on the flight had messaged a relative earlier than the catastrophe and stated a fowl “was caught within the wing” and that it could not land, however officers haven’t but confirmed whether or not there was any fowl strike.
Geoffrey Thomas, the knowledgeable cited by BBC and the editor of Airline Information, advised Reuters individually that he was skeptical a fowl strike alone might have prompted the lethal crash.
“A fowl strike will not be uncommon. Issues with an undercarriage are usually not uncommon. Hen strikes occur way more usually, however usually they do not trigger the lack of an airplane by themselves,” he stated.
Why wasn’t the touchdown gear deployed?
It remained unclear what, if any, engine or techniques failures the flight crew might need been contending with in the previous couple of minutes of the ill-fated flight. Consultants have stated video of the crash confirmed no obvious motion of the aircraft’s flaps because it got here down, which can assist gradual an plane, suggesting there might have been a lack of hydraulic strain that controls the mechanical units.
The hydraulic management techniques function independently, and consultants stated an engine downside can 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 might have prevented them from doing so.
Sumwalt, the previous NTSB chair, advised CBS Information, “I flew 737s for 10 years as a captain, and I can say that the touchdown gear may be manually deployed, so the actual query can be, what arrange the sequence of occasions right here? Did the fowl strike arrange the sequence of occasions the place the crew acquired rushed and didn’t deploy the touchdown gear? I doubt that there was any kind of a malfunction with the gear, provided that it may be deployed manually and thru the conventional means.”
An extended, onerous 12 months for U.S. aviation big Boeing
The crash wrapped up a troubling 2024 for U.S. aviation big Boeing, which has grappled with security issues, a machinists strike and plunging inventory costs.
Consultants say the 737-800 plane is a extra confirmed mannequin than the corporate’s much-maligned 737 Max jetliners, which had been linked to deadly crashes in 2018 and 2019.
“I believe it is essential to separate this crash … from the problems that Boeing has had over the latest previous,” Sumwalt stated. “This airplane is 15 years previous, so it was in all probability not a producing challenge if the airplane is that previous and flew hundreds of hours. It isn’t a design challenge. So I do not assume that Boeing goes to take a direct hit due to this one.”
Nonetheless, South Korean authorities stated 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.
