South Korea released a preliminary report into last month’s deadly Jeju Air Co crash that offers more detail on the role of bird strikes in the disaster, while still leaving crucial questions unanswered.
The report sheds additional light on the final minutes of the flight, as well as analysis of the aircraft’s engines. The crash killed all but two of the 181 passengers and crew on board after the plane belly landed, overran the runway at Muan International Airport, then crashed into an embankment and exploded into a fireball.
An analysis of communication shows how quickly the incident unfolded. Air traffic control staff warned the Jeju Air pilots about the risk of birds one minute before the plane issued a mayday emergency declaration for a strike. The aircraft’s flight data and cockpit voice recorder stopped recording about the same time, when the jet still had 151.79m of altitude and was traveling at 161 knots.
Photo: AFP
It crashed about four minutes later.
Feathers and bloodstains recovered from the Boeing Co 737-800 aircraft’s engines were analyzed and found to be from a flock of Baikal teal ducks. A security camera also captured the plane coming close to birds while executing an aborted landing go-around, the report said.
The report is the first official run down of South Korea’s deadliest aviation disaster, which shocked the world and rattled the country’s longstanding reputation for safety. The incident has sparked a sprawling examination of the nation’s infrastructure and would see authorities alter airport designs and remove embankments found at several other airports.
Still, the gaps in flight data mean investigators are missing key evidence. The report noted the jet’s landing gear did not deploy, but it is unclear why. It is also unknown why the cockpit crew did not extend landing flaps and slats that would have helped slow the incoming aircraft or why the pilot, undertaking a go-around after his first landing attempt, did not make a full circle and instead was cleared to land in the other direction of the runway.
South Korea pledged an “all-out investigation” to determine the cause of the accident, the report said.
‘UNUSUAL EVENT’: The Australian defense minister said that the Chinese navy task group was entitled to be where it was, but Australia would be watching it closely The Australian and New Zealand militaries were monitoring three Chinese warships moving unusually far south along Australia’s east coast on an unknown mission, officials said yesterday. The Australian government a week ago said that the warships had traveled through Southeast Asia and the Coral Sea, and were approaching northeast Australia. Australian Minister for Defence Richard Marles yesterday said that the Chinese ships — the Hengyang naval frigate, the Zunyi cruiser and the Weishanhu replenishment vessel — were “off the east coast of Australia.” Defense officials did not respond to a request for comment on a Financial Times report that the task group from
DEFENSE UPHEAVAL: Trump was also to remove the first woman to lead a military service, as well as the judge advocates general for the army, navy and air force US President Donald Trump on Friday fired the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Air Force General C.Q. Brown, and pushed out five other admirals and generals in an unprecedented shake-up of US military leadership. Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social that he would nominate former lieutenant general Dan “Razin” Caine to succeed Brown, breaking with tradition by pulling someone out of retirement for the first time to become the top military officer. The president would also replace the head of the US Navy, a position held by Admiral Lisa Franchetti, the first woman to lead a military service,
Four decades after they were forced apart, US-raised Adamary Garcia and her birth mother on Saturday fell into each other’s arms at the airport in Santiago, Chile. Without speaking, they embraced tearfully: A rare reunification for one the thousands of Chileans taken from their mothers as babies and given up for adoption abroad. “The worst is over,” Edita Bizama, 64, said as she beheld her daughter for the first time since her birth 41 years ago. Garcia had flown to Santiago with four other women born in Chile and adopted in the US. Reports have estimated there were 20,000 such cases from 1950 to
CONFIDENT ON DEAL: ‘Ukraine wants a seat at the table, but wouldn’t the people of Ukraine have a say? It’s been a long time since an election, the US president said US President Donald Trump on Tuesday criticized Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and added that he was more confident of a deal to end the war after US-Russia talks. Trump increased pressure on Zelenskiy to hold elections and chided him for complaining about being frozen out of talks in Saudi Arabia. The US president also suggested that he could meet Russian President Vladimir Putin before the end of the month as Washington overhauls its stance toward Russia. “I’m very disappointed, I hear that they’re upset about not having a seat,” Trump told reporters at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida when asked about the Ukrainian