Law enforcement authorities in South Korea raided the Muan International Airport and the Seoul offices of Jeju Air on Thursday in connection with the deadliest plane crash in the nation’s history, killing 179 people on Sunday.
Police officials also confirmed raiding an office of the Busan Regional Aviation Administration in Muan, where the crash took place, seeking information regarding the final moments of the flight or any details that could help explain why Jeju Air Flight 2216, arriving in Muan from Thailand, appeared to fail to properly launch its landing gear, belly-flop onto a runway, and crash at high speed into a concrete wall.
The incident occurred in the early morning hours of Sunday. Initial reports suggested that the pilot attempted to deploy the plane’s landing gear upon arrival but did it not drop in time, potentially because of a bird strike on the plane shortly before landing. The plane landed on the ground but at high speeds and exploded on the moment of impact with the wall, leaving only two survivors out of the 181 passengers and crew on board. Cameras at the airport caught the harrowing final moments of the flight.
Images of the pilot in the final moments of the flight indicated he was frantically attempting to control the plane through overhead controls.
Authorities are at press time trying to confirm indications of a bird strike or find any evidence of mechanical failure in the burned remnants of the plane – as well as searching for human remains and trying to identify all the passengers. Aviation experts have fielded a host of questions about the disaster that South Korean authorities have yet to answer.
“Why didn’t fire tenders lay foam on the runway? Why weren’t they in attendance when the plane touched down? And why did the aircraft touch down so far down the runway? And why was there a brick wall at the end of the runway?” Airline News editor Geoffrey Thomas asked on Sunday.
The raids on Thursday targeted officials at the airport, the airline responsible for maintaining the plane, and local aviation officials. Police officials vowed to “fully investigate the exact cause of the accident and determine the responsible parties in strict accordance with the law and principles,” according to South Korea’s Korea JoongAng Daily. The outlet noted that law enforcement had convened a team of 264 investigators to focus on the crash.
“Police are securing relevant data to examine the adequacy of runway structures around the accident site, such as the localizer, the possibility of bird strikes,” the newspaper explained, “warnings and distress signals exchanged between the control tower and the pilot prior to the crash, as well as the maintenance history of the aircraft involved in the accident.”
The South Korean news agency Yonhap reported that the police raids were legal as per search warrants issues on the grounds of “professional negligence resulting in death.” The report did not specify who, if anyone, is facing those criminal charges, though the likely targets of the probe are the leadership of the airline and administrators at the airport.
The crash occurred during a turbulent time in South Korean politics in which the nation has had three different presidents in one month. President Yoon Suk-yeol was impeached in December after a failed attempt to impose martial law on the country, which he claimed was necessary in the face of leftist obstruction of his conservative agenda at the National Assembly. The leftist Democratic Party, a majority in the National Assembly, also impeached acting President Han Duck-soo during the last week of December, claiming he was blocking the impeachment process against Yoon. Choi Sang-mok, who is serving as president during the Yoon impeachment process, took the helm of the country two days before the plane crash.
Choi announced an emergency inspection of South Korea’s entire air travel system on Monday in response to the crash. The South Korean Transportation Ministry is especially focusing on inspecting the Boeing 737-800 model, the kind of plane involved in the crash, stating it would ensure full inspections of every such plane flying with South Korean airlines.
Initial reports indicated that the Muan airport sent a message to the plane indicating a bird strike shortly before the pilot replied with an emergency call and abruptly canceled his first attempt to land. He attempted a second landing without landing gear – with the plane’s belly hitting the ground – that ended in the ensuing disaster.
Bird strikes are “highly likely” at Muan Airport, surrounded by six different migratory bird habitats, according to South Korea’s Dong-A Ilbo. The newspaper obtained documents from meetings on potential bird strike emergencies on Thursday
“During the meeting last year, aviation experts reportedly pointed out that the airport had fewer workers and devices to handle more bird strikes compared to the previous year,” Dong-A reported. “It has also been revealed that Jeju Air was supposed to attend the meeting but was absent.”
The newspaper noted that a meeting on the subject took place on December 19 in which officials at the airport complained of not having enough staff to address potential bird issues throughout the entire premises of the airport.
“A considerable decrease in bird control performance was also mentioned at the meeting,” it added.
Some have questioned the theory that a bird strike could cause such a disaster, suggesting that mechanical failure may be responsible. A day after the crash, another Boeing 737-800 failed to deploy its landing gear while departing Gimpo International Airport, north of Muan. That incident ended with no casualties as the plane returned home after it reported its landing gear failure.
“A bird strike is unlikely to have interfered with the deployment of the landing gear,” Robert Clifford, an American aviation attorney leading several cases against Boeing over malfunctions elsewhere in the world, told the Korea Herald on Tuesday.
“This plane appears to have experienced a mechanical problem. … Evaluation of the digital flight data and cockpit recorders is essential to knowing exactly what occurred,” he noted.
“That should not have happened with a bird strike. If there was a flaw in the hydraulic system, then that would be a major issue for the aviation industry not just in South Korea, but also around the world,” Clifford argued, noting that “Boeing keeps pointing to the bird strike issue” in the case and that it was “standard practice for their public relations team to shift the focus away from Boeing.”
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