A fiery South Korean plane crash extensively credited to failed touchdown gear has invited a flurry of hypothesis, together with whether or not one thing extra got here into play main as much as the catastrophe.
“There are one million backups on this airplane. It is extraordinarily secure, and that is what lots of people are saying. They can not perceive why this airplane was landed on that runway at that pace with no flaps, with no gear. There might need been one thing else concerned,” aviation advisor Mike Boyd advised Fox Information Sunday.
“A fowl strike on an engine would possibly shut an engine down, however there’s so many redundant methods there, it simply would not make sense. We’re not at midnight, however we all know the runway is 9,200 ft. It is a very lengthy runway. It [the plane] did are available in sizzling and excessive, sizzling and quick. We do not know why that was the actual situation.”
Eyewitnesses to the crash that killed 179 folks mentioned they noticed flames within the plane’s engine and heard explosions, studies say. One described seeing a “flash of sunshine” adopted by smoke. One other mentioned the airplane was unable to land within the preliminary try and needed to circle again round to attempt once more earlier than the crash occurred.
Hearth authorities seek for the lacking and get better the deceased on the website of an accident close to Muan Worldwide Airport in Jeollanam-do, South Korea, on December 29, 2024, the place a Jeju Air passenger airplane collided throughout touchdown. (Chris Jung/NurPhoto through Getty Photos)
Yonhap Information Company mentioned authorities are investigating a possible touchdown gear failure stemming from a fowl strike that will have triggered the crash.
“That airplane was most likely broken greater than we expect, and it could not have been simply the fowl strike,” Boyd added. “There might need been different issues that occurred to that airplane. We do not know, but it surely’s very unusual to have that airplane land that sizzling on a runway the place it actually was nonetheless going fairly sturdy after they hit that wall.”
The Jeju Air flight skidded off the runway and crashed right into a concrete fence at Muan Worldwide Airport in Muan, South Korea, roughly 190 miles south of Seoul, on Sunday, leaving solely two survivors out of 181 onboard.
Footage of the incident exhibits the 15-year-old Boeing 737-800 jet sliding down the runway on its stomach after its touchdown gear didn’t deploy. The crash despatched black smoke billowing towards the sky.
“The gear is just not prolonged. The flaps usually are not prolonged, which might point out that there was a serious hydraulic failure of some form there,” Boyd noticed.
A closed Jeju Air Co. ticket workplace at Muan Worldwide Airport in Muan County, South Korea, on Sunday, Dec. 29, 2024. (SeongJoon Cho/Bloomberg through Getty Photos)
“Even when there is a hydraulic failure, there is a mechanical manner of dropping the touchdown gear. That was not completed. I believe we’ll be sort of at midnight right here ’til we discover the cockpit voice recorder and the black field for this, as a result of it appears to be like like there was a fowl strike from some earlier image of it. They did vector the airplane round to the opposite finish of the runway, so there was management however touchdown at this pace or coming down at that pace with the gear not down, it appears to be like like that airplane suffered some main hydraulic failure of some form.”
In a press release following the incident, Boeing said the corporate is involved with Jeju Air concerning the flight and is “able to help them.”
“We prolong our deepest condolences to the households who misplaced family members, and our ideas stay with the passengers and crew,” the assertion continued.
The incident is being labeled the worst aviation-related catastrophe within the nation’s historical past.
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Fox Information’ Sarah Rumpf-Whitten, Chris Pandolfo and Landon Mion contributed to this report.
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