A troubling detail has emerged from the ongoing investigation into last December’s air disaster involving a Jeju Air flight. Evidence now strongly suggests that the pilots, facing an emergency after a bird strike, may have mistakenly shut down the engine that was less damaged. This surprising finding comes as investigators piece together the events that led to the crash.
Sources close to the probe, who spoke without official authorization, say the evidence is clear. They point to information from the cockpit voice recorder, data retrieved from the plane’s computers, and the actual positions of engine switches found in the wreckage. All these pieces reportedly show the left engine was turned off, not the more severely damaged right engine, as the crew tried to manage the situation before landing. “The investigation team has solid proof and backup data,” one source stated, “so the findings will not change.” Initial inspections of the recovered engines found no defects before the bird strike and subsequent crash.
The accident on December 29 saw a Boeing 737-800 jet skid off the runway at Mu’an Airport. The incident claimed the lives of 179 people, with only two crew members surviving out of the 181 passengers and crew aboard. It stands as the deadliest air disaster in South Korea’s history.
Just last Saturday, investigators shared some of these details with the families of those who died. They explained that the right engine suffered far more severe damage from the bird strike than the left. Circumstantial evidence, they noted, pointed to the less damaged left engine being the one shut down. This information was also reported by Korean news outlets MBN and Yonhap.
Jeju Air has stated it is fully cooperating with the South Korean Air Accident Investigation and Railway Accident Investigation Board (ARAIB). The airline is waiting for the official results to be formally announced. Air accidents typically result from several factors, not just one. International rules suggest a full accident report should be released within a year of the incident.
An initial report released in January confirmed that parts of a duck were found in both of the Jeju Air aircraft’s engines. The plane had been arriving from Bangkok when the incident occurred at Mu’an Airport. However, that first report did not explain how much damage each engine had sustained.
Plans for Korean investigators to hold a media briefing about their engine findings were canceled last Saturday. Lawyers representing the victims’ families had been informed of the report beforehand. They voiced strong objections to its public release, arguing that the findings seemed to place too much blame on the pilots without considering other contributing factors.
The Jeju Air flight veered off the Mu’an Airport runway during an emergency landing. It then struck an earthen embankment, which held navigation equipment, leading to fire and partial explosions. Representatives for the victims’ families and the Jeju Air pilots’ union said recently that the investigation must also focus on this embankment. Aviation experts believe the embankment played a major role in the high number of fatalities.
Source: Reuters