Seoul: The first report on last month’s Jeju Air crash in South Korea confirmed traces of bird strikes in the plane’s engines, though officials haven’t determined the cause of the accident that killed all but two of the 181 people on board.
The preliminary accident report released by South Korea’s Aviation and Railway Accident Investigation Board on Monday (Tuesday AEDT) said feathers and bird blood stains were found in both engines.
“The samples were sent to specialised organisations for DNA analysis, and a domestic organisation identified them as belonging to Baikal teals,” the report said, referring to a migratory duck.
The report also said the plane’s two black boxes – the flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder – stopped recording about four minutes before the crash. This could complicate efforts to find the cause.
The Boeing 737-800 skidded off the runaway at Muan International Airport on December 29 after its landing gear failed to deploy, slamming into a concrete structure and bursting into flames. The flight was returning from Bangkok and all the victims were South Koreans except for two Thai nationals.
Rescue crews work at the site of the plane crash at Muan International Airport in Muan, South Korea.Credit: AP
Many analysts said the concrete structure, which housed a set of antennas called a localiser that guides aircraft during landings, should have been built with lighter materials that could break more easily upon impact. South Korea’s Transport Ministry announced last week that it would remove the concrete structure.
Investigators earlier said that air traffic controllers warned the pilots about possible bird strikes two minutes before the aircraft issued a distress signal confirming that a bird strike had occurred, after which the pilots attempted an emergency landing.
The preliminary report said the pilots also noticed a group of birds while approaching the runway and that a security camera filmed the plane coming close to birds during an aborted landing as well.
The report said authorities would disassemble the engines, examine their components in depth, analyse the black box and air traffic control data, and investigate the embankment, localiser and bird strike evidence.
“These all-out investigation activities aim to accurately determine the cause of the accident,” the report said.
The ministry said the preliminary report has been sent to the International Civil Aviation Organisation, Thailand, the United States and France. It said the plane was built in the US and its engines in France.
It said the Muan airport would remain closed until April 18.
AP