On December 29 of last year, a flight on Jeju Air from Bangkok, Thailand was on its way to the Muan airport in South Korea when there were warning reports about a possible bird strike. Bird strikes are very common, so no one thought anything about it.
Soon after, the birds striked at least one of the engines of the plane. While preparing to land, the aircraft’s landing gear would not come down, and the pilot decided to attempt a belly landing.
Belly landings have been mostly successful as well, so when the plane skidded off the runway and collided into a concrete wall at the end of the runway, people were in shock. The plane burst into flames within seconds.
CBS News said that “ the flight was carrying 181 passengers and crew […] killing all aboard except two flight attendants.”
The two flight attendants who narrowly survived the crash were found all the way in the back of the plane; the only salvageable part of the plane.
This tragedy became the worst aviation disaster for South Korea in decades. Soon after, Korea went through a seven-day mourning period, where no celebrations of any sort were to be held during that time.
In the meantime, people all around the world began questioning why this crash occurred. Investigators looked at what was left of the engines, and there were indeed traces of bird and blood. But no one could come up with a reason why the landing gear would not come down.
People started blaming the aircraft company: Boeing 737. This company has been having many aviation problems recently, and many people are too afraid to fly with this company now.
Additionally, there has been a huge debate on why there was even a wall at the end of the runway in the first place. After all, if it was not there, the plane and passengers in it could have survived.
According to CNBC, “In the U.S., the Federal Aviation Administration calls for a safety area of about five hundred feet wide and a thousand feet past the end of the runway to limit damage should an aircraft overrun the runway.”
After the Jeju Air crash, improvements are being made so that there can be a more crushable material at the end of the runway instead of concrete. This way, it could help a plane slow down and prevent it from rolling toward outside areas.
Upon the recovery of the two crew survivors, both have no recollection of the crash. With no luck gathering information from the survivors, investigators continued to collect evidence from the engines and black boxes of the plane.
“More than 1,500 emergency personnel have been deployed as part of recovery efforts, including 490 fire employees and 455 police officers. They have been searching the area around the runway for parts of the plane and those who were onboard,” said Grace Dean and David Mercer from BBC News.
Many citizens around the world have South Korea in their hearts, and are hoping 2025 will be a better year for aviation.