South Korean authorities announced Monday that they would modify the navigation aid device struck by the plane that crashed at Muan airport (southwest) on December 29, killing 179 of the 181 passengers.
That morning, a Jeju Air Boeing 737-800 from Bangkok landed on its belly, seconds before crashing into a solid wall at the end of the runway, breaking apart and catching fire from the force of the impact. .
Several hypotheses have been raised to explain the accident, the worst to have occurred on South Korean soil, and criticism has focused on the presence of the obstacle at this location.
It is a locator, a navigation and landing aid tool, mounted on the ground on a reinforced concrete mound.
“Improvements appeared necessary, including of the locator and its foundations, for nine installations at seven airports, including Muan,” explained the South Korean Ministry of Transport in a press release.
The international airports of Jeju (southwest) and Gimhae (southeast) are among the sites affected, the press release specifies.
Modification plans will be finalized by the end of January, with the aim of implementing these changes “over the course of the year”, the ministry added.
On Saturday, the same source revealed that the plane’s two black boxes had stopped recording around four minutes before the disaster.
South Korean and American experts, including members of the manufacturer Boeing, are carrying out the investigations together.
The study of the cockpit voice recorder (CVR), which keeps conversations in the cabin, and the flight data recorder (FDR), saving a large quantity of parameters thanks to a number of sensors, normally allows better understand the causes of air accidents.
Authorities carried out several searches, including at Muan airport and the offices of South Korean low-cost airline Jeju Air in Seoul.
Muan Airport will remain closed until January 19, according to the Ministry of Transport.
