An investigation into a plane crash in South Korea raises questions about possible bird collisions and airport infrastructure

South Korean officials did just that He vowed to find out why A Boeing 737-800 passenger jet operated by Jeju Air caught fire while trying to land over the weekend. Killing all but two of the 181 people on board. One day after the disaster, there are still many more questions than answers about the country’s worst aviation disaster in decades.

Authorities ordered an immediate inspection of all 737-800 planes operated by the country’s airlines — dozens of planes in all — following the incident, but there is still no clear indication as to whether there was a system glitch, human error, or a combination. Of the factors. It caused the disaster.

Here’s a look at what’s known about the Jeju Air plane crash, and some of the major questions that have emerged in the wake of the tragedy.

What happened in the South Korean plane crash?

Jeju Air Flight 7C 2216 departed Bangkok, Thailand, and approached its scheduled landing Sunday at Muan International Airport in southern South Korea.

After a failed initial landing attempt, the Boeing 737-800 received a bird strike warning from ground control. Then he rose again before trying to descend again.

Two minutes later, the plane’s crew sent a distress signal and attempted to land on a different runway. The plane landed three minutes later without lowering its nose.

The plane slid along the runway at high speed, overshot the end of the runway, hit a concrete fence, and exploded into a fireball. The only survivors were two crew members rescued from the tail section.

Observers say videos of the crash indicate the plane had an engine problem, but a landing gear failure was likely the main cause of the crash.

South Korean Transport Ministry officials said the plane’s flight data and cockpit voice recorders – so-called “black boxes” – were transferred to a research center at Seoul’s Gimpo International Airport before being analysed. The ministry said earlier that it would take months to complete the investigation into the incident.

Jeju Airlines said the accident was not due to “any maintenance issues,” according to South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency and aviation expert Jeffrey Thomas. He told BBC News That South Korean airlines are generally considered to follow “industry best practices” and that the plane and Jeju Airlines have an “excellent safety record.”

A South Korean plane slid into a fence protecting its antennas

Transportation Department officials said Monday they would examine whether the fence the plane hit — a concrete structure housing an array of antennas designed to safely guide planes during landing — should have been made of lighter materials that could break more easily on impact. They said they are also trying to determine if there were any communication problems between air traffic controllers and the pilot.

The placement of positioning antennas near the end of the runway behind unforgiving fortifications will likely be of interest to investigators.

“Normally, in an airport with a runway at the end, there is no wall,” Christian Beckert, an aviation safety expert and pilot at German airline Lufthansa, told Reuters news agency. “You might (often have) an engineering material blocking system, which allows the plane to sink into the ground a little bit” to slow it down.

Could bird collisions have caused the Jeju airline disaster?

Lee Jeong-hyun, head of the local Muan Fire Department, said on Sunday that bird collisions and bad weather may have contributed to the accident, but stressed that the cause was still under investigation.

According to CBS News partner BBC News, a passenger on the plane texted a relative before the disaster and said a bird was “stuck on its wing” and could not land, but officials have not yet confirmed whether there was any bird. Bird strike.

Geoffrey Thomas, the expert cited by the BBC and editor-in-chief of Airline News, separately told Reuters he doubted that bird strikes alone could have caused the fatal accident.

He said: “Bird collisions are not unusual. Problems with the undercarriage are not unusual. Bird collisions happen often, but they usually do not cause the loss of the aircraft in and of themselves.”

It remained unclear whether there was any engine or systems failure the cabin crew was dealing with in the final few minutes of the ill-fated flight. Experts said video of the crash did not show any clear movement of the plane’s panels as it fell, which could have helped slow the plane, suggesting there may have been a loss of hydraulic pressure controlling the mechanical devices.

The hydraulic control systems operate independently, and experts say a problem with the engine is unlikely to affect its operation.

The aircraft also has a manual override for pilots to lower the landing gear in the event of an electronic or mechanical failure. It was not clear whether the Jeju Air crew simply did not have time to lower the nose wheels manually, or if there was another factor that might have prevented them from doing so.

A long and difficult year for the American aerospace giant Boeing

The accident ended a worrying 2024 for the American aerospace giant Boeing, which suffered from this accident Safety problemsA Mechanics strike and Declining stock prices.

Experts say the 737-800 is a more proven model than the company’s much-criticized 737 MAX, which was built Associated with fatal accidents In 2018 and 2019.

However, South Korean authorities said they would conduct safety inspections on all 737-800 aircraft operated by domestic airlines, including 39 Jeju Air aircraft.

Jin Kwon

She contributed to this report.