A Jeju Air flight 7C2216 accident occurred on the 29th at 9:03 a.m. at Muan International Airport in South Jeolla Province, when the aircraft crash-landed, overran the runway, and collided with the airport's outer wall. The aircraft was completely burned, leaving no survivors except for two out of the 181 people on board. The body of the aircraft also burned to the extent that only the tail section remained intact after the crash.
◇ complete aircraft destruction... 2 out of 181 survive
According to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport and fire authorities on the 29th, the crashed passenger aircraft had 181 people on board, including 175 passengers and six crew members. Among the 175 passengers, 173 were Korean and two were Thai. The tragedy resulted in the death of 179 individuals, as confirmed by the National Fire Agency, while two individuals were rescued. Thus, the status of all those on board has been confirmed.
According to authorities, of the 175 passengers, 82 were men and 93 were women. The youngest passenger was a 3-year-old boy, and the oldest was a 78-year-old man. By age group, the 50s had the most with 40 passengers, followed by those in their 60s (39), 40s (32), 70s (24), 30s (16), 20s (10), teens (9), and under 10s (5). The two Thai nationals were women in their 20s and 40s.
The two survivors rescued were one man and one woman, both crew members. They were found with injuries in the separated tail section. The male crew member, Mr. Lee (33), was initially transported to Mokpo Korean Hospital and later transferred to Ewha Seoul Hospital. The female crew member, Ms. Koo (25), was treated at Mokpo Central Hospital before being transferred to Asan Medical Center in Seoul. Both were conscious. They were in charge of passenger services in the rear section of the aircraft.
Fire authorities set up a temporary mortuary at the scene. A waiting room for bereaved families was arranged on the third floor of Muan Airport. South Jeolla Province plans to assign local government officials to manage each family unit. Jeju Air secured accommodations near the airport for bereaved families. South Jeolla Province plans to set up a joint mourning altar at Muan Sports Park.
◇ Jeju Air accident occurs 21 days after starting regular flights to Muan Airport
This accident occurred 21 days after Jeju Air began operating regular flights at Muan Airport. According to South Jeolla Province and others, Jeju Air started regular flights to Nagasaki, Japan; Taipei, Taiwan; Bangkok, Thailand; Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia; and Jeju on the 8th. The crashed flight flew between Bangkok and Muan four times a week.
Jeju Air first flew to Muan Airport in April 2018, but it was the first time it operated regular flights. Previously, it operated on routes to Osaka, Japan; Da Nang, Vietnam; and Bangkok, Thailand before suspending all operations in 2020 due to the spread of COVID-19.
When international regular flights started at Muan Airport for the first time in 17 years, the response among residents of Gwangju and South Jeolla was positive. Of the 175 passengers on the crashed flight, 41 (23.4%) were customers of a package tour sold by travel agency A.
The travel agency sold a package tour from the 25th to the day of the accident, a 5-day trip to Bangkok, Thailand. The package included experiences such as golf, foot massages, and a dinner cruise in Bangkok, with a price of approximately 1.4 million won per person. Most customers were middle-aged or older.
◇ Control tower warns of "bird strike" → pilot of crashed flight declares "mayday" → attempts belly landing
The cause of the accident is presumed to be a bird strike. Video footage of the situation just before the accident shows the passenger aircraft preparing to land at the airport, colliding with a flock of birds at an altitude of 200 meters, causing flames to erupt from the right engine. A passenger, Mr. A, texted waiting family members at Muan Airport via Kakao saying, "A bird got stuck in the wing, preventing landing." One of the rescued crew members told rescuers, "It appears to be a bird strike. Smoke came from one engine, followed by an explosion."
According to the Central Disaster Management Agency, the control tower granted landing permission to the crashed passenger aircraft around 8:54 a.m. and warned about bird movement (bird strike) around 8:57 a.m. The aircraft attempted a first landing but was unable to land and proceeded to go around. Subsequently, around 8:59 a.m., the aircraft pilot declared a mayday (emergency distress signal), and the aircraft tried to belly land, eventually overrunning the runway and crashing into the airport's outer wall at about 9:03 a.m. The aircraft attempted to land in the 01 direction (10 degrees) of the runway, but the accident occurred when attempting to land in the opposite 19 direction (190 degrees) one minute after declaring mayday.
Joo Jong-wan, director of aviation policy at the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, said, "The control tower allowed landing without going around in the 19 direction, and in the process of accepting and landing, the aircraft overran the runway, hit the localizer antenna, and collided with the outer wall."
◇ Two years ago, F-35A fighter jets did not lower gear during a bird strike
Although the cause of the accident is presumed to be a bird strike, questions remain. Even if a bird strike caused one engine to fail, it is likely that one of the two engines was still functional. Additionally, even if the landing gear hydraulic system malfunctioned, there are emergency devices that could have prevented a belly landing on the runway, as noted.
However, in January 2022, an F-35A stealth fighter that took off from Cheongju Airport also belly-landed due to a bird strike without lowering the landing gear. At the time, an eagle was sucked into the left air intake, and none of the three landing gears worked.
There is also criticism that the 2,800-meter runway at Muan Airport was too short. Incheon Airport has one 4,000-meter and three 3,750-meter runways. Gimpo Airport has two runways at 3,600 meters and 3,200 meters. Gimhae Airport has two runways at 3,200 meters and 2,744 meters. Jeju International Airport runways are 3,180 meters and 1,900 meters. However, the runway at Muan Airport is longer than those at Daegu Airport (2,755 meters and 2,744 meters) and Cheongju Airport (2,744 meters). The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport stated that runway length is not related to the accident.
The flight hours of the pilot of the crashed passenger aircraft were 6,823 hours for the captain and 1,650 hours for the co-pilot. The captain had been flying the accident aircraft since March 2019, and the co-pilot since February 2023. Aviation authorities have retrieved the flight data recorder (FDR) and cockpit voice recorder (CVR), commonly referred to as "black boxes," for investigation.
◇ worst aviation accident in the country... third among domestic airlines
This disaster will be recorded as the aviation accident with the highest number of casualties occurring domestically. It surpasses the 2002 accident where a China International Airlines B767-200 crashed while making a turning approach to Gimhae Airport in South Gyeongsang Province, resulting in 129 deaths and 37 serious injuries. In the South Jeolla region, it was the largest in magnitude since 1993, when Asiana Airlines flight OZ733 crashed into a hillside in Haenam while attempting to land at Mokpo Airport, killing 68 passengers and crew and injuring 48.
It ranks as the third largest aviation accident among domestic airlines. The deadliest was Korean Air flight 007, which was shot down over Kamchatka by the former Soviet Union in 1983, killing 269 crew and passengers. Following that, in August 1997, Korean Air flight 801 crashed into a jungle area near Guam Airport, USA, killing 225 people and leaving 26 seriously injured.
Previously, the third deadliest accident was the 1987 bombing of Korean Air flight 858 over the Burmese skies in the Indian Ocean, which killed 115 people, an event known as the "KAL flight bombing incident." The current accident resulted in even more casualties.
Jeju Air, after first flying the Jeju-Gimpo route on June 5, 2006, had its first major accident in 18 years. Jeju Air CEO Ki-mi Kim expressed deep condolences and apologies to the passengers and families who lost their lives in the Muan International Airport crash on the 29th.