Jeju Air crash investigation ramps up as both the airline and Muan Airport are subjected to search operations
January 2, 2025
With the investigation ongoing into the Jeju Air disaster at Muan International Airport at the end of December, police have searched the offices of both the airport operator as well as the ministry’s aviation authority in the southwestern county of Muan and the office of Jeju Air in Seoul.
The crash, which claimed 179 lives, marks the worst aviation incident in the country’s recent history. Investigations are ongoing into the incident, which saw a Jeu Air Boeing 737-800 skidding off the runway at Muan International Airport after failing to deploy its landing gear and crashing into a concrete wall before bursting into flames and killing all but two of its 181 passengers and crew.
The police also confirmed that the investigation team has imposed a travel ban on two individuals, including Jeju Air CEO Kim E Bae.
Investigations ongoing
Officials have warned it could be months before clear answers about the crash emerge. Early reports suggest that the pilot received a bird strike warning from ground control after an initial failed landing attempt. The aircraft then ascended again before attempting to land a second time with a distress signal sent. It eventually touched down without lowering its landing gear before crashing into the concrete barrier.
The US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) with representatives from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and Boeing are currently collaborating on the investigation on the ground with South Korean authorities. Notably there are no engine specialists in the initial NTSB advisory group that has travelled to South Korea.
The two black boxes from the aircraft with the flight’s data and cockpit audio recorders have been recovered, with the flight data recorder sent to the US for data extraction and analysis in collaboration with NTSB. Robert Sumwalt, former chair of the NTSB told CBS News that the “cockpit voice recorder, if they’re able to read that out, will be key to unlocking this mystery.”
Key questions
Various questions remain, including why the landing gear didn’t deploy and why the pilots didn’t use the manual override to lower the landing gear if there had been a mechanical or electronic failure.
Questions have also been raised about the concrete embankment which the aircraft slammed into on the runway and which has been criticised for worsening the incident. The concrete block housed the airport’s localiser, a two-metre-high structure containing Instrument Landing System equipment. It was located just over 250m from the end of the runway safety area. Authorities are investigating whether the structure complied with regulations and why it was positioned so close to the runway. Reports indicate that the airport’s operations manual had flagged the localiser’s proximity to the runway, recommending a review during the airport’s planned expansion. According to Joo Jong-wan, aviation policy chief at the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, similar structures are present at other domestic airports in South Korea.
The government of South Korea has also called for all domestic Boeing 737-800s to undergo “rigorous safety inspections” involving checking aircraft utilisation rates, flight inspections and maintenance records.
Following the fatal incident on the 29 December, Jeju Air, which operates the largest fleet of Boeing 737-800s in South Korea, was forced to return another of its Boeing aircraft fleet (flight 7C101) to Gimpo International Airport after suffering another landing gear issue shortly after take-off.
