How the Jeju Air plane crashed in South Korea: timeline, maps and photos

All but two of the 181 passengers on board a South Korean airliner died on Sunday morning, in the worst global aviation disaster in years.

Days after the Jeju Air plane crash, there is little explanation as to why the plane went down. As investigators try to understand what happened, video from the scene and early official reports provide clues.

The pilot reported a bird strike at 8:59 a.m. and told air traffic controllers at Moan International Airport that he would abort his landing attempt and spin around in the air in preparation for another attempt. Instead of traveling along the road, he approached the south-facing runway at high speed.

The plane missed the usual landing zone and landed much further down the runway than usual. It then rushed down the landing strip on its stomach, leaving a trail of smoke.

The pilot appeared unable to control the engines and there was no landing gear visible when the plane hit the runway, two important elements in slowing the plane during landing. The plane also does not appear to have activated its wing flaps, another means of controlling speed.

The plane eventually overshot the runway and crashed into a concrete structure.

At the end of the video, the plane caught fire.

The plane was aboard a Boeing 737-800, one of the most common passenger aircraft in the world. The plane took off from Bangkok with a crew of six and 175 passengers on board, most of them South Koreans returning home after a Christmas holiday in Thailand.

Officials found the plane’s “black box,” an electronic flight recorder containing cockpit audio and other flight data that assists in aviation accident investigations.

The device was partially damaged, so it may take some time to recover data, according to experts, but it could be crucial in determining what happened with the device. Four fateful minutes Between the time the pilot reported a bird strike and when the plane crashed.

Sources: South Korean Ministry of Transport; Satellite image of Maxar Technologies

Aviation analysts are examining several factors that may have contributed to the accident. Including the concrete structure Near the runway the airline crashed into before exploding in a fireball.

Similar concrete structures exist at other airports in South Korea and abroad, said Jo Jung-wan, director of aviation policy at the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport. He added that it was built according to regulations, but the government planned to investigate whether the rules should be revised in the wake of the Jeju plane crash.

Photography by Chang W. Lee/The New York Times

A satellite image taken on Monday showed dozens of vehicles at the wreck site. a job Putting hundreds of body parts together The process was arduous, but authorities said that by Tuesday morning, 170 bodies had been identified and four had been handed over to their families.

Source: Satellite image by Planet Labs on December 30

The accident was the deadliest worldwide since 2018, according to the United Nations, when Lion Air Flight 610 crashed off the coast of Indonesia, killing all 189 people on board.