The Jeju Air crash, the worst ever recorded on South Korean soil, has left major questions about its cause, due to the lack of key data on the black boxes of the plane involved. This tragic event, which occurred on December 29, resulted in the death of 179 people and only two survivors. The aircraft, a Boeing 737-800, took off from Bangkok (Thailand) bound for Muan, in southwest South Korea, before landing on its belly (without the gear deployed) and skidding off the runway of the regional airport, colliding with a wall and bursting into flames.
The accident occurred about four minutes after the plane’s pilot reported a bird strike.
The only two people who managed to survive were crew members who were located in the rear section of the aircraft.
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Black Boxes and Mystery of Missing Data
The aircraft’s black boxes, which record both cockpit communications and the performance of the plane’s systems, stopped recording crucial data four minutes before impact. This finding has baffled investigators, who assume that even the backup power sources failed, which is highly unusual according to Sim Jai-dong, a former accident investigator with the transport ministry.
Initially, the voice recorder data were analyzed in South Korea. However, when key information was found to be missing, this equipment was sent to the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) laboratory for further review.
South Korea’s Transport Ministry has assured that other available data will be used to continue the investigation, such as air traffic records, video footage of the crash and the wreckage of the aircraft. They have also focused on the wall the plane crashed into, which was designed to prop up an ILS system used to assist aircraft landing, and why it was constructed of such a rigid material and so close to the end of the runway.
The Ministry has also promised to share information in a transparent manner with the families of the victims. However, demands for a more independent approach to the analysis of the causes persist.
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