Boeing 737 crash in South Korea: these gray areas surrounding the accident

After the accident of the Jeju Air Boeing 737 which left 179 dead this Sunday, December 29 at Muan airport (South Korea), the black boxes of the aircraft were recovered. Their analysis will make it possible to know precisely how the events unfolded and to provide explanations for this crash. Because for the moment, several gray areas remain.

A collision with birds?

For the authorities, the presumed cause of the disaster is a bird collision. The airport control tower had sent a warning to this effect to the crew of Jeju Air flight 2216 from Bangkok, minutes before the crash. As the aircraft was about to land, the pilot issued a distress message indicating a bird strike and then went around again. It then immediately returned to land on the runway, in the other direction. Birds, such as ducks, common in the area, could have been sucked into one or both reactors. In such cases, this usually results in a partial or complete loss of engine power. Although this type of incident is common in air transport, fatal accidents remain rare. Airport services also have a regulatory obligation “to assess the animal risk on and around the aerodrome, to put in place means and develop procedures to control and reduce the risk”, underlines the Management General of Civil Aviation (DGAC). But zero risk does not exist.

A late belly landing

According to local authorities, the aircraft landed on its belly well beyond the touchdown zone. The runway is 2,800 m long but was reduced to 2,500 m since October 30, 2024 due to ongoing works. If the plane actually made contact with the ground several hundred meters after the touchdown zone and with its landing gear retracted, the runway excursion was inevitable.

A retracted landing gear

The crew’s failure to extend the landing gear remains an enigma. If an engine problem can make it impossible to exit the trains with the hydraulic system, there is nevertheless an emergency solution. In the event of a failure, pilots have joysticks in the cockpit to manually unlock the landing gear. The main gear then extends laterally since its mass is enough to make it descend by gravity. As for the front axle, less heavy, it extends from the front to the rear, taking advantage of the aerodynamic effort. These manual gear exit systems are required by the European (EASA) and American (FAA) civil aviation authorities. According to a Boeing 737 pilot interviewed by The Dispatch“the pilots took a risk by landing on their stomach because once the plane hits the ground, we can no longer do anything, neither brake, nor maintain control of the plane.”

A wall at the end of the track

Video of the crash broadcast by local channel MBC shows the plane sliding along the ground at full speed, then hitting a wall at the end of the runway and disintegrating. The presence of this wall arouses strong criticism. For Kim Kwang-il, professor of aeronautical sciences at Silla University and former pilot, this type of construction goes against international aviation safety standards. “Normally, there is no such solid obstacle at the end of the runway, there are only fences. […] The plane could have skidded further and stopped naturally, believes the specialist. Most of the passengers died because of this obstacle.”