Disturbing video captured the plane skidding on the runway after the landing gear malfunctioned, leading to a collision with a concrete wall and a subsequent explosion.
Out of the 181 passengers aboard, 179 perished, marking it as the deadliest plane crash in the nation’s history.
South Korean authorities have launched an investigation into the crash, but the cause remains undetermined.
Speculation has been rife, with initial suggestions pointing to a bird strike as the potential cause.
On Tuesday (December 31), Jeju Air CEO Kim Yi-bae updated the public, stating that the pre-flight inspection of the Boeing 737-800, including its landing gear, found ‘nothing abnormal’, according to BBC News.
Investigators have begun examining the aircraft’s black boxes.
While Korean officials haven’t indicated foul play, aviation expert Professor Ron Bartsch suggested that ‘something sinister’ might have occurred.
Speaking on Australia’s Today, Bartsch remarked: “I suspect that the initial reports that have indicated that birdstrike or weather may have been a contributing factor, but to me, that’s pretty unlikely that a birdstrike alone would be sufficient to bring down an aircraft or to foresee landing gear not to be able to be operative.”
He added, according to 9News: “Obviously the pilot would have known the high risk of landing without the availability of reverse thrust or flaps to slow the aircraft down coming into land.
“So it may have been, and this is only speculation, that there may have been something more sinister on board the aircraft that could have caused it.”
Bartsch described the Boeing 737-800 as a ‘very reliable and safe aircraft’.
Additionally, some have argued that the crash wouldn’t have been as lethal if the concrete wall hadn’t been located near the runway.
David Learmount, operations and safety editor of Flight International magazine and an aviation expert, even went so far as to call it ‘criminal’ to have the wall in such a position.
“Not only is there no justification [for the wall to be there], I think it’s verging on criminal to have it there,” he told Sky News.
“That kind of structure should not be there. That is awful. That is unbelievably awful.”
If you have experienced a bereavement and wish to talk with someone confidentially, contact The Compassionate Friends at (877) 969-0010.