How the d.e.a.d.liest air d.i.s.aster in South Korea happened
Jeju Air plane crashes off runway during failed landing, killing 179 people, becoming the deadliest aviation disaster on South Korean soil.
The Jeju Air plane carrying 175 passengers and 6 crew members on the morning of December 29 ran off the runway at Muan airport in southwestern South Korea and burst into flames. Officials from the Jeonnam Provincial Fire Department said that only two people survived, while the remaining 179 people are presumed dead.
The National Fire Agency of Korea has confirmed that 179 people were killed and two survived the accident. This is the deadliest aviation disaster ever to happen on South Korean soil.
Muan International Airport and its two runways in a satellite image from September. Photo: Google Earth
"The air traffic control tower at Muan International Airport allowed Jeju Air flight 7C2216 to land at the beginning of Runway 19 at 8:54 a.m., and issued a bird strike warning," Ju Jong-wan, director of aviation policy at the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, said at a press conference on the afternoon of December 29.
This warning is usually issued when airport staff detect large flocks of birds or large birds in the area.
Some witnesses said they saw the plane hit a bird, causing the right engine to "spit out fire." The plane aborted the landing and increased its throttle but was unable to gain altitude, so it circled at a low altitude and tried to land at the opposite end of the runway.
The pilot on the flight issued an emergency signal at 8:59 a.m. It is not clear whether it was due to the bird strike or another problem.
A passenger on the flight sent a text message to relatives minutes before the accident. "A bird is stuck on the wing and we can't land. Should I send a last message?", the Korea Herald quoted the message sent at 9am.
According to the Korea Meteorological Administration, Muan Airport had a light wind of 3.5 km/h at the time, visibility was 9 km, the sky was clear, the cloud base was more than 10 km above the ground, there was no rain and the temperature was around 1.5 degrees Celsius.
Muan air traffic control allowed the Jeju Air plane to land at the beginning of runway 01, in the opposite direction from the original. "The pilot agreed, confirmed and started the landing procedure," the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said.
The plane appeared to have a problem with its landing gear, forcing the crew to choose a belly landing option on the second landing attempt. However, the plane failed to slow down, veered off the runway, hit a concrete wall and burst into flames at 9:03 a.m.
The South Korean Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said the captain had 6,823 hours of flight time before the accident, while the co-pilot had 1,650 hours. The two had taken up their positions in March 2019 and February 2023, respectively.
South Korean authorities are investigating the cause of the accident, saying it could take months or even years to reach a final conclusion.
The tail of the Jeju Air plane at the scene at Muan Airport, South Korea, on December 29. Photo: Yonhap
The Aviation and Railway Accident Investigation Committee (ARIC) has recovered the flight recorder, one of the two black boxes on the plane. They are searching for the other black box, the cockpit voice recorder, to better understand the situation on the plane.
Director Ju dismissed speculation that the relatively short runway at Muan International Airport contributed to the accident.
"The Muan airport runway is 2,800 meters long and is still used by Group C aircraft," Ju said, referring to a group of aircraft that are usually used to carry passengers or cargo. "It can be concluded that the length of the runway was not the cause of the accident."
According to the classification of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), Group C aircraft include aircraft with a wingspan of 24-36 meters. The wingspan of the Boeing 737-800 that crashed was 35.8 meters.
