This distressing event has now been labeled South Korea’s deadliest aviation disaster. The aircraft crash-landed at Muan International Airport at 9:03am.
Pilots had to abort their initial landing attempt for reasons yet to be disclosed. During the second attempt, they received a bird strike warning from ground control before the pilot sent out a distress signal, according to the transport ministry.
The aircraft involved, a 15-year-old Boeing 737-800 jet, landed without deploying its front landing gear. It overshot the runway, collided with a concrete fence, and ignited into a fireball.
Only two individuals, both crew members from the flight, survived the disaster. An investigation into the precise cause of the crash is still ongoing.
New reports indicate that another Boeing aircraft was forced to return today (December 30) due to landing gear complications.
According to The Economic Times, Jeju Air Flight 7C101 departed from Seoul’s Gimpo International Airport around 6:37am and had to return to the same airport in under an hour.
Song Kyung-hoon, head of the management support office at Jeju Air, stated during a news conference: “Shortly after takeoff, a signal indicating a landing gear issue was detected on the aircraft’s monitoring system.”
“At 6:57am, the captain communicated with ground control, and after taking additional measures, the landing gear returned to normal operation.”
“However, the decision was made to return to the airport for a thorough inspection of the aircraft.”
Prior to the incident this morning, South Korean authorities announced they are conducting safety inspections of all Boeing 737-800 aircraft operated by the nation’s airlines.
Acting president Choi Sang-mok, who assumed the role only since Friday (December 27), led a task force meeting about the crash. He directed authorities to conduct an emergency review of the country’s aircraft operation systems.
“The essence of a responsible response would be renovating the aviation safety systems on the whole to prevent recurrences of similar incidents and building a safer Republic of South Korea,” Choi, who also serves as deputy prime minister and finance minister, declared.
While the cause of the tragic crash has not yet been confirmed, David Learmount, operations and safety editor of Flight International magazine and an aviation expert, suggested that more lives might have been saved had the concrete wall by the runway not existed.
“Not only is there no justification [for the wall to be there], I think it’s verging on criminal to have it there,” Learmount shared with Sky News.
“That kind of structure should not be there. That is awful. That is unbelievably awful.”