Jeju Air Boeing 737-800 taking off from Osaka Kansai Airport.
Fabrizio Gandolfo | Light racket | Getty Images
Accident investigators are trying to figure out what caused a Jeju Air plane to land on its belly without its landing gear at South Korea's Muan International Airport, killing all but two of the 181 people on board as the plane burst into flames in the country's worst air disaster ever. decades.
Acting President of South Korea Choi Sang-mok declared a state of emergency control country Boeing 737-800, the type of aircraft used in fatal Jeju Air Flight 7C2216.
The Boeing 737-800 is one of the most widely used aircraft in the world and has an excellent safety record. It is older than the Boeing 737 Max, which was involved in two deadly crashes in 2018 and 2019 that killed 346 people aboard those flights. The 737 Max was grounded for almost two years.
According to aviation data firm Cirium, there are nearly 4,400 737-800 aircraft in operation worldwide. This means that this model constitutes approximately 17% of the world's commercial passenger jet fleet.
According to Cirium, the average age of the global 737-800 fleet is 13 years, with the last of the series of aircraft delivered about five years ago.
Jeju Air took delivery of the plane involved in this weekend's crash in 2017. According to Flightradar24, it was previously operated by European discount carrier Ryanair. The plane involved in the crash was about 15 years old.
Aviation industry experts say investigators are unlikely to find a design problem in the long-flying plane.
“The idea that they would find a design error at this stage is almost unthinkable,” said Richard Aboulafia, managing director of AeroDynamic Advisory, an aerospace consulting firm.
A full investigation could take more than a year, and the unusual incident raised more questions than answers, such as why the landing gear was not extended. Even in the event of a hydraulic system failure, Boeing 737-800 pilots can manually lower the landing gear.
One theory is that a possible bird collision caused the engines to shut down.
“If it happened at the altitude they were at, they may not have had time to complete emergency checklists,” said Jeff Guzzetti, a retired aviation safety researcher with the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration. He also said that if the plane had not hit the hard wall at the end of the runway, the accident would have been more survivable.
The NTSB leads a U.S. investigative team that also includes Boeing and the FAA because the plane was manufactured and certified in the United States.
In accordance with international protocols, the general investigation will be led by the country where the accident occurred.