South Korean authorities revealed on Saturday that the flight data and cockpit voice recorders aboard the Jeju Air jet that crashed on December 29 ceased recording approximately four minutes before the tragic incident. The crash, South Korea’s deadliest aviation disaster, claimed 179 lives when the plane struck a concrete structure at Muan Airport and exploded.
The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, and Transport is now investigating why the “black boxes” stopped recording prior to the crash. An initial analysis of the cockpit voice recorder was conducted in South Korea, but when investigators discovered missing data, the device was sent to the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) for further examination. The flight data recorder, also damaged, has been transported to the U.S. for analysis in cooperation with the NTSB.
Jeju Air flight 7C2216, en route from Bangkok, Thailand, to Muan in southwestern South Korea, experienced a catastrophic sequence of events. The pilots reported a bird strike to air traffic control and declared an emergency roughly four minutes before the crash. The aircraft belly-landed at the regional airport, overshot the runway, and collided with an embankment, triggering a massive explosion.
Authorities are scrutinizing the circumstances leading to the crash, including the malfunction of the flight recorders and the pilots’ response to the emergency. Bird strikes, a common aviation hazard, are under consideration as a contributing factor.
Among the aircraft’s occupants, only two crew members seated in the tail section survived. Both sustained injuries and were rescued from the wreckage. The loss of 179 lives has made the crash the worst aviation disaster on South Korean soil, raising questions about safety measures and emergency preparedness.
Investigators hope that data recovered from the damaged recorders will provide critical insights into the aircraft’s performance and the sequence of events during the final moments of the flight. The ministry stated that understanding why the recorders stopped functioning could be key to determining the cause of the crash.
This tragedy has sparked renewed discussions about aviation safety in South Korea. As authorities work alongside international experts to piece together what happened, the families of the victims are left seeking answers and closure in the wake of an unprecedented disaster.
