A South Korean passenger plane with 181 people onboard has crashed at Maun International Airport in South Jeolla Province, South Korea, after it slid off the end of the runway and into a concrete wall on Sunday morning.
The 15-year-old Boeing 737-800, with 175 passengers and six crew members onboard, was operated by Jeju Air, the country’s first low-cost carrier, which was established in 2015.
Flight 7C-2216 had just flown for four and a half hours on a regularly scheduled flight from Bangkok full of holidaymakers who had spent the festive period in Thailand when it attempted to land at Maun Airport.
Eyewitness video shows the plane landing without the landing gear deployed and traveling along the far end of the runway at high speed.
South Korea’s Yonhap news agency initially reported that at least 28 people had died after the plane exploded into a ball of flames as it impacted with the fence, sending a large plume of thick black smoke high into the sky.
Sadly, that number was massively revised up, with all but two people now feared dead in the accident. Two flight attendants who were sitting at the very back of the plane were pulled alive from the wreckage and are likely to survive.
The aircraft (registration: HL8088) departed Bangkok Suvarnabhumi International Airport at around 2:29 am on December 29 and arrived at Maun at around 8:30 am local time.
Local media report that emergency services have managed to rescue at least one passenger and one crew member. Of the 181 people onboard, two were Thai nationals, and all others were South Korean nationals.
Video shared on social media appears to show a puff of black smoke coming out of the right hand engine as the aircraft made its final approach for landing. Local officials believe the smoke was caused by a bird strike.
The cause of the accident, however, remains under investigation. The ‘black box’ flight data recorder has reportedly been recovered, which will aid accident investigators in their probe.
The accident in the worst ever in South Korean commercial aviation.
Having taught the Boeing 737, there are many things that don’t add up. Bird ingestion can cause engine failure, depending on the size of the bird, speed of the aircraft, etc. An engine failure is cause to declare an emergency, but the hydraulic systems are redundant and should continue to provide power necessary to control the aircraft. The pilot is going to require a LOT of left rudder to offset the tendency for the plane to roll to the right. The landing gear is hydraulically actuated however, it is held up by “uplocks” that, upon actuation of the manual release will free fall and “should lock”. The flaps may not deploy due to the hydraulic failure requiring a much higher landing speed. Thus, the pilot should request the longest available runway. It is easy to see the plane floating due to ground effect. This too has to be figured into the approach and landing. I also note that there are NO EMERGENCY vehicles on standby. I’m betting that the investigation will show the engine failure but the accident was caused by pilot error.