All but two of the 181 people on board a South Korean passenger plane died on Sunday morning, in the world’s deadliest disaster in years.
Days after the Jeju Air crash, there is little explanation as to why the plane went down. As investigators try to piece together what happened, video from the scene and initial official reports provide clues.
The pilot reported the bird incident at 8:59 a.m. and told air traffic controllers at Muan International Airport that he would abort his attempt to land and go around in the air to prepare for another one. Instead of going everywhere, he approached the southbound runway at high speed.
The plane missed the normal touchdown zone and landed further away from the runway than usual. Then it damaged the place to stay in the stomach, leaving smoke.
The pilot appeared to be unable to control the engines and there was no visible landing gear as the aircraft contacted the runway – two key factors in slowing the aircraft on landing. The plane also did not spread its wings, another way to control the speed.
The plane eventually overran the runway and crashed into a concrete structure.
By the end of the video, the plane was bursting into flames.
The plane was a Boeing 737-800 jet, one of the most common passenger planes in the world. It had taken off from Bangkok with six crew and 175 passengers, most of whom were South Koreans returning home after a Christmas holiday in Thailand.
Officials found the plane’s “black box,” which is a flight recorder that contains cockpit voice and other flight information that helps plane crash investigations.
The device was partially damaged, so it may take some time to recover the data, according to experts, but it could prove crucial in determining what happened in the fateful four minutes between the time the pilot reported the bird strike and when the plane crashed.
Sources: South Korean Ministry of Transport; satellite image by Maxar Technologies
Aviation analysts are considering several factors that may have contributed to the crash, including a concrete structure near the runway that the airliner crashed into before exploding into a fireball.
Similar concrete structures exist at other airports in South Korea and other countries, said Ju Jong-wan, director of aviation policy at the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport. It was built according to regulations but the government plans to investigate whether the regulations should be revised after the Jeju Air crash, he said.
Photo by Chang W. Lee/The New York Times
A satellite image captured on Monday shows dozens of vehicles at the crash site. The task of reuniting hundreds of body parts was difficult, but authorities said Tuesday morning that 170 bodies had been identified and four had been returned to their families.
Source: Satellite image by Planet Labs on Dec. 30
The crash was the world’s deadliest since 2018, according to the United Nations, when Lion Air Flight 610 crashed off the coast of Indonesia, killing all 189 people on board.
Source link
