Jeju Air data recorders stopped minutes before crash
January 11, 2025
The flight data and cockpit voice recorders from the Jeju Air jet that crashed at South Korea’s Muan Airport on December 29 ceased recording roughly four minutes before the aircraft crashed, the country’s Ministry of Transport has revealed.
The crash, South Korea’s deadliest aviation disaster, claimed 179 lives.
Investigators are now working to determine why the so-called “black boxes” stopped functioning shortly before the catastrophic events unfolded.
“CVR and FDR data are important data for accident investigations, but accident investigations are conducted through investigation and analysis of various data, so we plan to do our best to accurately identify the cause of the accident,” the ministry said.
Jeju Air flight 7C2216 was en route from Bangkok, Thailand, to Muan in southwestern South Korea when it belly-landed on the runway. The exact cause of the crash remains under investigation.
Initial analysis of the cockpit voice recorder in South Korea uncovered the missing data, prompting officials to send the device to a U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) laboratory for further examination.
Similarly, the flight data recorder, damaged in the crash, has been transported to the United States for analysis in partnership with the NTSB.
