The Boeing 737-800 plane, which departed from the Thai capital Bangkok for Muan county in southwestern South Korea, belly-landed and overshot the regional airport’s runway, bursting into flames after hitting an embankment.

Only two crew members at the tail end of the plane survived the worst aviation disaster on South Korean soil.

About four minutes before the fatal crash, one of the pilots reported a bird strike and declared an emergency before initiating a go-around and attempting to land on the opposite end of the runway, according to South Korean authorities.

Investigators have found bird feathers and blood in both engines instead of just one as previously reported, a person familiar with the probe told media on Friday.

South Korea’s transport ministry declined to comment on whether feathers and blood were found in both engines.

The plane’s two black boxes stopped recording about four minutes before the accident, posing a challenge to the ongoing investigation.

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The Flight Data Recorder and Cockpit Voice Recorder of Jeju Air flight 7C2216 stopped recording four minutes before the aircraft crashed at Muan Airport, according to a press release from the Korean investigation board ARAIB.

Yonhap News Agency confirmed that the black boxes had stopped transmitting at 08:59 am local time.

It was the same time that the Boeing aircraft had suffered a bird strike to the right engine, which may have cut off power to the entire aircraft.

The explosion occurred at 9:03 a.m. on Dec. 29, when the Jeju Air flight struck a concrete mound housing localizer equipment at the end of Muan International Airport after skidding without its landing gear open.

Damaged data recorder of the aircraft has been deemed irrecoverable for data extraction at the domestic level. The black box components were sent to the NTSB in Washington last week.

The Boeing 737 Next Generation was engineered antecedent to the Federal Aviation Administration’s stipulation for battery backups on the Flight Data Recorder and Cockpit Voice Recorder.

If the engines stop and no APU running then the data recorders stop, there is no cover-up.

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Of the 181 occupants, two survived the crash. Both are Jeju Air flight attendants: a 33-year-old man and a 25-year-old woman.

The male flight attendant is being treated in the hospital’s intensive care unit (ICU) for multiple fractures. At this time, he does not appear to have any signs of memory loss and is “fully able to communicate” said director of the Ewha Woman’s University Seoul Hospital.

He told doctors that he “had already been rescued” from the crash when he regained consciousness.

About the female cabin crew member, she is reportedly in stable condition at a different hospital. She suffered injuries to her ankle and head.

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This article is not part of an official investigation, we just will try to answer questions and make assumptions about the Boeing 737-800 HL8088 crash on Sunday, December 29 2024. According to the ministry, the airport’s control tower alerted the flight crew about potential bird strike risks at 8:57 a.m. Just one minute later, at 8:58 a.m., the pilot of the ill-fated aircraft issued a mayday distress signal.

On approach

The flight #7C2216 suffered a bird strike at 200m high on approach to the airport causing the right engine stall. The pilots were advised by the tower about the incident and climbed.

What is an engine (compressor) stall?

If the airflow gets disturbed, whatever the reason (bird ingestion most likely), it might cause a high angle of attack over the blades until it stall and a reversal of the airflow. When the compressor stalls, the airflow is no longer flowing normally through the combustion chamber and the turbines.

Belly landing

The Boeing 737-800 performed the landing on runway 19 at 09:00 am with gear up and the flaps weren’t extended either. However gear up landing shouldn’t be a mass fatality event. Muan International Airport Runway is 2,800 meters long, it’s shorter than usual length and it looks the aircraft touched down by the middle of it.

The flight didn’t circle long

In landing gear issue, the pilots usually circle for a while to burn or dump fuel to reduce the amount of kerosene in the tanks before landing. In the Jeju crash, the aircraft hit a wall and exploded.

Gravity extension in emergency

If suffering hydraulic issue, the landing gear can still be extended by gravity, controlled by the gear lever on the forward instrument panel. Each red handle is directly connected to the mechanical up lock of that set of wheels. When pilots pull the handle, the cable routes down to the wheels and directly pulls the uplock pin out of the locked position. This releases the wheels and allows them to free fall down under their own weight.

However with a single engine bird strike, it’s unlikely to take down all hydraulics since they’re typically isolated.

Concrete wall

The collision with the wall that supported a guidance system at the end of the runway was the “defining moment” of the disaster. It holds the instrument landing system which helps pilots land at night or when visibility is poor. As it reached the end of the airfield and struck the wall, the plane was almost instantly destroyed. At most airports these systems are placed on collapsible structures.

Situation in the cabin

It’s possible that a fire or smoke in the cabin may have prompted the pilots to land as soon as possible. Also, pilots were probably feeling super overwhelmed and dealing with a bunch of problems at once, which could explain why they didn’t take extra steps.

Conclusion

The Captain of the crashed plane was reported to have been working for Jeju Air since March 2019, and had over 6,820 hours of flight time. The co-pilot was reported to have flown over 1,650 hours and took the position in February 2023.

A team from the United States will assist South Korean aviation authorities with their investigation of the crash, according to a statement from the National Transportation Safety Board on Sunday. The N.T.S.B. said that the American team will include people from the safety board and the Federal Aviation Administration, and from Boeing, the company that made the plane that crashed.

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A Jeju Air flight 7C2216 from Bangkok carrying 181 passengers and crew crashed shortly after 9am local time (00:00 GMT) while attempting a landing at Muan international airport in south-western South Korea on Sunday morning.

All but two of the people onboard Flight 7C2216 are presumed dead, according to local fire authorities. Two survivors, both reportedly crew members, were pulled from the tail section and are receiving treatment for “moderate to severe” injuries at a nearby hospital. Rescue workers have retrieved 120 bodies; a further 59 are missing.

The Boeing 737-800 (registration HL8088) attempted a belly landing at about 9.03am local time after its landing gear reportedly failed to deploy. The aircraft was seen skidding along the runway before hitting the airport’s perimeter wall, breaking into two pieces at the front and tail sections and bursting into flames.

The cause of the crash is yet to be confirmed, though a bird strike and weather conditions have been pointed to as possibilities. Local broadcaster MBC aired footage that appears to show a bird strike incident as the plane was descending, and one of the two survivors reportedly told rescue workers that the aircraft had experienced a bird strike. Witnesses reported hearing loud “bang” noises before the aircraft struck the wall. Officials have also said weather conditions may have played a role.

Live view from the crash site

Investigators have recovered the flight data recorder, while the cockpit voice recorder is still being sought.

Among the 175 passengers aboard the flight, 173 were Korean nationals and two were Thai nationals, officials have said.

South Korea’s acting president, Choi Sang-mok, has arrived at the scene approximately 300km south-west of Seoul and has ordered “all available equipment and personnel to be mobilised” for the rescue operations at the airport. ‘“No words of consolation will be enough for the families who have suffered such a tragedy,” he said at the scene.

Above all, we express our deepest condolences and apologies to the families of the passengers who lost their lives in this accident. At present, the cause of the accident is difficult to determine, and we must await the official investigation results from the relevant government agencies. Regardless of the cause, as CEO, I feel profound responsibility for this incident.

Jeju Air chief executive, Kim E-bae

It would be South Korea’s worst domestic civil aviation disaster and marks the first major casualty incident involving a low-cost carrier in the country’s history.

Friday, December 27 2024, the same Boeing 737-800 (registration HL8088) performing flight 7C8135 from Jeju City to Beijing declared an emergency and diverted to Seoul due to a medical situation on board.

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