South Korea’s transport ministry revealed on Saturday the black box on the aircraft, which was carrying 179 people, stopped recording just moments before the airliner hit a concrete structure at Maun Airport
An investigation into the South Korean Jeju Air passenger jet has revealed the black box “stopped recording” just four minutes before the crash.
South Korea’s transport ministry revealed on Saturday the black box on the aircraft, which was carrying 179 people, stopped recording moments before the airliner hit a concrete structure and exploded into flames at Maun Airport.
Despite the voice recorder being analysed in South Korea, officials sent the black box to the US National National Transportation Safety Board laboratory after finding data was missing.
Black boxes are normally found at the back of the aircraft, which is the least damaged part in a crash, and are designed to withstand high-speed impact, extreme temperatures, and submersion underwater. These help investigators retrieve important flight data and cockpit voices, including speed, altitude, radio transmissions and engine noise.
Despite this, they can be destroyed and on the Jeju Air flight, two black boxes, one recording data from the aircraft, and the other recording the pilots in the cockpit, both stopped working.
The Boeing 737-800 plane operated by Jeju Air aborted its first landing attempt for reasons that aren’t yet clear. Then, during its second landing attempt, it received a bird strike warning from the ground control centre before its pilot issued a distress signal. The plane landed without its front landing gear deployed, overshot the runway, slammed into a concrete fence and burst into a fireball.
Video of the crash indicated that the pilots did not deploy flaps or slats to slow the aircraft, suggesting a possible hydraulic failure, and did not manually lower the landing gear suggesting they did not have time, said retired airline pilot and CEO of Safety Operating Systems John Cox.
Despite that, the plane was under control and traveling in a straight line, and damage and injuries likely would have been minimized if not for the barrier being so close to the runway, Cox added.
Other observers said the videos showed the plane was suffering from suspected engine trouble, but the landing gear malfunction was likely a direct reason for the crash. They said there wouldn’t likely be a link between the landing gear problem and the suspected engine issue.
Jeju Air flight 7C2216 had departed Bangkok on December 29 for Muan in South Korea. All of the victims were South Korean, except for two Thais nationals, with many returning from Bangkok after Christmas holidays. The Muan crash is South Korea’s deadliest aviation disaster since 1997, when a Korean Airlines plane crashed in Guam, killing 228 people on board.
