4-Minute Recordings Missing After South Korean Airlines Crash That Killed 179: Investigators
The first report of last month’s Jeju Air crash in South Korea found that the plane’s two black boxes stopped recording four minutes before the crash that killed all 179 people on board.
South Korea’s Aviation and Railway Accident Investigation Board released a preliminary crash report yesterday confirming that the Boeing 737-800’s flight data and cockpit voice recorders had stopped working, confirming what the country’s transport ministry said earlier this month.
South Korean officials sent the device to the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board for further investigation after discovering that some data had been lost. It was unclear why the devices stopped recording.
The report found bird strikes – feathers and bird blood stains – in both of the plane’s engines, although authorities are yet to determine what caused the crash.
“The samples were sent to specialized organizations for DNA testing, and a local organization identified them as members of the Baikal Tails,” the report said, referring to the migratory duck.
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Wreckage of a Boeing 737-800 plane operated by South Korean budget airline Jeju Air is seen at Moon International Airport, South Korea, December 31, 2024. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-jon, File)
The aircraft skidded off the runway at Mueang International Airport on December 29, 2024 after its landing gear failed to deploy, plowed into a concrete structure and burst into flames. Of the 181 people on board, only two survived.
NTB experts and a joint investigation team of the United States and South Korea confirmed the site of the plane crash on December 31, 2024 at Muan International Airport in South Korea. (Son Hyung-jo/Yonhap via AP, File)
The flight was returning from Bangkok and all the dead were South Koreans except for two Thai nationals.
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Investigators previously said air traffic controllers alerted the pilots two minutes before the plane issued a distress signal confirming a bird strike, after which the pilots attempted an emergency landing.
A preliminary report said the pilots noticed a group of birds as they approached the runway at Muan Airport, and a security camera filmed the plane approaching the birds as it landed.
He said the authorities will disassemble the engines and thoroughly examine their components, examine black box and air traffic control data to determine the cause of the crash, and analyze eclipse, environmental and bird strike data.
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Officials said the report was sent to the International Civil Aviation Organization, Thailand, the United States and France, and said the plane was built in the United States and had French engines.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.