South Korean Officials said on Monday that they would conduct security checks on everyone. Boeing 737-800 aircraft are operated by the country's airlines, as they are struggling to determine. What caused a plane crash the day before that killed 179 people?
Sunday's crash, the nation's worst aviation disaster in decades, sparked national sympathy. Many are worried about how effectively the South Korean government will handle the disaster as President Yoon Seok-yul and Prime Minister Han Deok-soo faces a leadership vacuum following the recent back-to-back impeachments of two of the country's top officials, a political upheaval caused by Yoon. between the A brief imposition of martial law earlier this month.
New acting President Choi Sang-mok chaired a task force meeting on the crash on Monday and ordered officials to conduct an emergency review of the country's aircraft operation system.
“The essence of a responsible response will be the overhaul of the aviation security system as a whole to prevent the recurrence of similar incidents and build a secure Republic of South Korea,” said Choi, who is vice premier and He is also the finance minister.
The Boeing 737-800 plane, operated by South Korean budget airline Jeju Air, aborted its first landing attempt for reasons that were not immediately clear. Then, during his second landing attempt, he received a bird strike warning from the ground control center before his pilot issued a distress signal. The plane landed without its front landing gear deploying, overshot the runway, hit a concrete fence and exploded in a fireball.
Alan Price, a former chief pilot for Delta Air Lines and now a consultant, said the Boeing 737-800 is a “proven aircraft” that belongs to the Boeing 737 Max jetliner, a variant of the 2018 model. was associated with fatal accidents. And 2019.
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But South Korea's transport ministry said Monday it plans to conduct safety inspections of all 101 Boeing 737-800 jetliners to be operated by the country's airlines, as well as an extensive review of safety standards at Jeju Air. Jail, which operates 39 of these aircraft. Representatives from the US National Transportation Safety Board and Boeing are expected to arrive in South Korea on Monday to take part in the investigation, senior ministry official Jo Jong-wan said.
Ministry officials also said they would examine whether Moan Airport's localizer – a concrete fence with a set of antennas designed to safely guide aircraft during landing done – should have been made of lighter materials that would have broken more easily on impact.
Jo said the ministry has determined that similar concrete structures are in place at other domestic airports, including Jeju Island and the southern cities of Yeosu and Pohang, as well as airports in the United States, Spain and South Africa.
John Cox, a retired airline pilot, said video of the crash showed the pilots did not deploy flaps or slats to slow the plane, suggesting a possible hydraulic failure, and manually retracted the landing gear. But they didn't do it down, saying that they didn't have time. CEO of Safety Operating Systems in St. Petersburg, Florida.
Nevertheless, the jetliner was under control and traveling in a straight line, and had the obstacle not been so close to the runway, damage and injuries would have been less likely.
Other observers said the videos showed the plane had suspected engine failure, but that a malfunctioning landing gear was likely the direct cause of the crash. He said there was likely no connection between the landing gear problem and the suspected engine problem.
Earlier Monday, another Boeing 737-800 operated by Jeju Air returned to Seoul's Gimpo International Airport shortly after takeoff after the pilot detected a malfunction in the landing gear. Song Kyung-hoon, a Jeju Air executive, said the issue was resolved through discussions with the ground instrument center, but the pilot decided to return to Gimpo as a precaution.
Authorities are looking into whether there were communication problems between air traffic controllers and the pilot, Joe said. “Our current understanding is that, during the orbiting process, the communication became ineffective to some extent or was disrupted prior to landing and impact,” he said.
The plane's flight data and cockpit audio recorders were transferred to a research center at Gimpo Airport before they could be analyzed, ministry officials said Monday. Ministry officials had earlier said that it would take months to complete the investigation into the accident.
The Moan crash is South Korea's deadliest aviation accident since 1997, when a Korean Airline plane crashed in Guam, killing all 228 people on board.
The accident shocked and embarrassed many South Koreans, with the government declaring seven days of national mourning until January 4. Some questioned whether safety or regulatory issues were involved in the accident, such as the 2022 Halloween crash in Seoul that killed 160 people and the 2014 ferry sinking that killed 304 people.
Authorities have identified 146 bodies and are collecting DNA and fingerprint samples from another 33, the transport ministry said.
Park Han Shin, a representative of the bereaved families, said he was told the bodies were so badly decomposed that authorities needed time before returning them to their families.
“I request the government to mobilize more personnel to bring back our brothers and family members as quickly as possible,” he said, fighting back tears.
The accident was already big news for South Koreans already reeling from a political crisis triggered by Yun's martial law decree, which brought hundreds of soldiers to the streets of Seoul and the 1970s-80s. It brought back painful memories of the past military rule.
The political turmoil resulted in the impeachment of Yun and Han in the opposition-controlled National Assembly. The security minister resigned and the police chief was arrested for his role in enforcing martial law.
Absence of senior officials responsible for disaster management has become a cause for concern.
“We are deeply worried whether the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters can really deal with this disaster,” the widely circulated JoongAng Ilbo newspaper said in an editorial on Monday.
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