The flight recorder of the Jeju Air passenger jet that crashed final month, killing 179 folks, stopped recording for its final 4 minutes, South Korean officers stated on Saturday, a major setback for investigators.
Knowledge extracted from the so-called black field, consisting of the cockpit voice recorder and the flight knowledge recorder, is mostly essential in investigations of aviation accidents. Officers in South Korea, who’ve been working with america’ Nationwide Transportation Security Board, have stated that the flight knowledge for the airplane’s final 4 minutes can be particularly essential on this crash.
However on Saturday, South Korea’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport stated that for causes not but decided, the black field of the Boeing 737-800 had stopped recording then.
“We plan to research why the info was not recorded,” the ministry stated in a information launch. It additionally stated that different knowledge and evaluation can be used to attempt to perceive what occurred in final month’s catastrophe.
Jeju Air Flight 7C2216, coming from Bangkok with 181 folks on board, was making ready to land at Muan Worldwide Airport in southwestern South Korea at 8:59 a.m. on Dec. 29 when its pilot reported, “Mayday, mayday, mayday,” and, “Chook strike, fowl strike,” based on officers. The pilot additionally advised the air visitors management tower that he was “going round,” that means he would abort his first touchdown try and circle within the air to arrange for a second one.
However he apparently didn’t have sufficient time to make a full circle. As an alternative, the airplane approached the runway from the wrong way and landed on its stomach, with out its touchdown gear deployed. Seeming unable to regulate its velocity, it overshot the runway. 4 minutes after the Mayday emergency report, the airplane slammed right into a concrete construction off the southern finish of the runway and exploded into flames.
A key query has been: What occurred throughout these 4 minutes?
“The black field knowledge is essential in the investigation,” stated Hwang Ho-won, the chairman of the Korea Affiliation for Aviation Safety. “If the investigators don’t have it, it is going to create a major problem for them.”
The lacking knowledge provides thriller to the crash, which was the worst aviation catastrophe on South Korean soil and the deadliest worldwide since that of Lion Air Flight 610 in 2018, when all 189 folks on board died.
Mr. Hwang stated black containers might be broken by affect, hearth or extended publicity to deep water. However it was onerous to clarify how the Jeju Air black field did not file in its final 4 minutes, he stated.
He stated that investigators may be capable of reconstruct a part of the dialog contained in the cockpit based mostly on interviews with management tower officers. Radar and different knowledge steered that the airplane tried however failed to realize altitude after reporting a fowl strike and hurried to land, Mr. Hwang stated.
Investigators have stated they have been wanting into numerous prospects, together with that of the airplane shedding use of 1 or each of its engines in its final minutes.
A lot of the 179 individuals who died have been South Koreans returning residence from a Christmas vacation in Thailand. The 2 survivors have been each crew members discovered with accidents within the airplane’s tail part.
The catastrophe prompted a nationwide outpouring of grief, with memorials arrange throughout South Korea, and got here because the nation was additionally coping with a political disaster set off by President Yoon Suk Yeol’s short-lived imposition of martial legislation and his impeachment by Parliament.
