‘More questions than answers’: Uncertainty surrounds the deadly South Korean plane crash

Seoul: Uncertainty surrounds the deadliest plane crash on South Korean soil, aviation experts said, questioning how much impact a potential bird strike, cited by authorities, could have had in bringing down the Jeju Air flight.

The apparent absence of landing gear, the timing of the twin-engine Boeing 737-800’s belly landing at Muan International Airport and the reports of a possible bird strike all raised questions that cannot yet be answered.

Firefighters and rescue teams at the plane wreckage at Muan International Airport, South Korea. Credit: Getty Images

The single-aisle aircraft was seen in video skidding down the runway with no landing gear deployed, before hitting a wall in an explosion of flame and debris. Of the 181 people on board, 179 died.

“At this point, there are a lot more questions than we have answers. Why was the plane going so fast? Why were the flaps not open? Why was the landing gear not down?” said Gregory Alegi, an aviation expert and former teacher at Italy’s air force academy.

South Korean officials are investigating the crash of Jeju Air Flight 7C2216, including the impact of a potential bird strike and the weather.

Deputy Transport Minister Joo Jong-wan said the runway’s 2800-metre length was not a contributing factor, and that walls at the ends were built to industry standards.

A rescue team carries the body of a passenger from the wreckage.Credit: AP

A spokesperson for Jeju Air was not available for comment. Jeju Air declined to comment on the cause during news conferences, saying an investigation was under way.

South Korea’s acting President Choi Sang-mok ordered an emergency safety inspection of the country’s entire airline operation system once the recovery work on the Jeju Air crash is finished.

Christian Beckert, a flight safety expert and Lufthansa pilot, said the video footage suggested that, aside from the reversers, most of the plane’s braking systems were not activated, creating a “big problem” and a fast landing.

Beckert said a bird strike was unlikely to have damaged the landing gear while it was still up, and that if it had happened when it was down, it would have been hard to raise again.

“It’s really, really very rare and very unusual not to lower the gear because there are independent systems where we can lower the gear with an alternate system,” he said.

The probe should paint a clearer picture, he added.

Under global aviation rules, South Korea will lead a civil investigation and involve the National Transportation Safety Board in the United States where the plane was made.

Experts say air accidents are usually caused by a cocktail of factors, and that it can take months to piece together the sequence of events.

The flight data recorder was found at 11.30am on Sunday, about 2½ hours after the crash, and the cockpit voice recorder at 2.24pm, South Korean officials said.

Australian aviation consultant Trevor Jensen said fire and emergency services would normally be ready for a belly landing, “so this appears to be unplanned”.

In the space of a few minutes, the control tower issued a bird strike warning, pilots declared mayday, and then attempted to land, officials said, although it was not clear whether the aircraft had hit any birds.

“A bird strike is not unusual, problems with an undercarriage are not unusual. Bird strikes happen far more often, but typically they don’t cause the loss of an airplane by themselves,” said Airline News editor Geoffrey Thomas.

A crane and rescue workers at the site of the crash in Muan-gun.Credit: AP

A bird strike could have affected the CFM International engines if a flock had been sucked into them, but that would not have shut them down straight away, giving the pilots some time to react, Australian airline safety expert Geoffrey Dell said.

After the bird strike warning and the mayday declaration, the pilots attempted to land on the runway from the opposite direction, a transport ministry official said.

That change of plan raised more questions for investigators, said Marco Chan, a senior lecturer in aviation operations at Buckinghamshire New University and a former pilot.

“It was changed to the opposite direction fairly late as well, which added to the workload,” Chan said. “It’s a lot of guessing games at this stage.”

The captain of the Boeing 737-800 plane had worked at that rank since 2019 and logged 6823 flight hours, the South Korean government said. The first officer had worked at that rank since 2023 and had logged approximately 1650 flight hours.

The 737-800 is one of the world’s most flown airliners with a generally strong safety record. It was developed well before the MAX variant involved in a recent Boeing safety crisis.

Birds hitting the plane alone were unlikely to explain the scale of the disaster, said Italian aviation expert Alegi.

“Of course there might have been a bird strike,” he said. “But the consequences are much too big for that to be the direct cause of the accident.”

Reuters

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