The two black boxes of the Boeing which crashed at the end of December in South Korea and killed 179 people stopped recording four minutes before its destruction, we learned this Saturday. Investigators are still trying to trace the causes of the accident.
A technical failure. The two black boxes aboard the Jeju Air Boeing which crashed on December 29 and killed 179 people stopped recording four minutes before the accident, the South Korean Transport Ministry said on Saturday.
“Analysis revealed that the cockpit voice recorder (CVR) and flight data recorder (FDR) were not recording during the four minutes preceding the aircraft’s collision” with a wall which was located at the end of the landing strip leading to the destruction of the aircraft, we learned.
The Boeing 737-800 from Bangkok had emergency landed on its belly on the tarmac at Muan airport, in the southwest of South Korea. During the accident, only a flight attendant and a steward survived the tragedy, becoming the worst air disaster in South Korean history.
The ministry’s press release promises that an investigation will be opened “into the cause of the data loss.” American experts from Boeing joined the Koreans to carry out investigations.
-The causes currently given for the accident are a collision with birds followed by a malfunction of the landing gear. The pilot himself had reported a collision with birds before a first landing attempt, which was ultimately aborted. It was during a second attempt that the plane landed on its belly.
A lack of information
The black boxes, acting as flight data recorders, keep track of numbers such as the aircraft’s speed, altitude and other variables. The cockpit voice recorder provides access to pilot conversations. Investigators are committed to doing their “best to accurately determine the cause of the accident” despite the recording failure, the ministry assured.
Last Tuesday, lead investigator Lee Seung-yeol said “feathers were found” in one of the engines. Searches were also carried out for the investigation. The boss of Jeju Air, Kim E-bae, is banned from leaving the country, while the Minister of Transport, Park Sang-woo, has offered his resignation.
