The two flight recorders of the Boeing plane that crashed near Muan Airport in December 2024 failed just minutes before the crash.
This was reported by Reuters, citing the South Korean Ministry of Transport.
Investigators have previously said that the flight recorders, or so-called black boxes in the cockpit, are key to determining the cause of the crash. The devices contain data about the planeʼs operations during the flight and recordings of conversations between the pilots.
The flight recorders stopped recording about four minutes after the pilot of the Jeju Air plane reported a bird strike. The South Korean government will analyze why the malfunction occurred.
The devices were first analyzed by South Korean experts, then sent to the US National Transportation Safety Board laboratory. According to the Department of Transportation, the lack of information means that all power supplies, including backup, were turned off before the disaster — which is rare.
The embankment where the plane crashed will also be the subject of an investigation. It was supposed to support a locator system that helps with landing, but it was too rigid and was placed too close to the end of the runway. Some relatives of the victims are demanding that independent experts be involved in the investigation.
- A Jeju Air plane crashed on December 29, 2024, while landing at Muan International Airport. All 179 passengers and two pilots died. Investigators investigating the cause of South Koreaʼs deadliest civil aviation disaster will focus on a bird strike and landing gear failure.
- South Korean authorities have begun a special inspection of 101 Boeing 737-800 aircraft — all of them operated in the country. On the same day, in addition to the plane crash, another incident occurred with this aircraft — a Boeing 737-800 operating on another flight had a problem with its landing gear. There were no injuries.
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