A Jeju Air Boeing 737-800 taking off from Osaka Kansai Airport.
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Accident investigators are trying to discover what caused a Jeju Air flight to land without its landing gear at Muan International Airport in South Korea, killing all but two of the 181 people on board when it burst into flames at the worst air disaster in the country. in decades.
South Korea's acting president, Choi Sang-mok, ordered an emergency inspection of the country. boeing 737-800, the type of aircraft used in the fatal Jeju Air flight 7C2216.
The Boeing 737-800 is one of the most used aircraft in the world and has a strong safety record. It predates the Boeing 737 Max, the type that was involved in two fatal crashes in 2018 and 2019 that killed all 346 people aboard those flights. The 737 Max was grounded for almost two years.
There are nearly 4,400 of the 737-800s operated worldwide, according to aviation data firm Cirium. That means the model represents around 17% of the global fleet of commercial passenger aircraft in service.
The average age of the global 737-800 fleet is 13 years, according to Cirium, and the last planes in the series were delivered about five years ago.
Jeju Air took delivery of the plane that was involved in this weekend's crash in 2017. It was previously operated by European discount airline Ryanair, according to Flightradar24. The plane involved in the accident was about 15 years old.
Aerospace experts say researchers are unlikely to find a design problem with the long-flying plane.
“The idea that they will find a design defect at this point is almost inconceivable,” said Richard Aboulafia, CEO of AeroDynamic Advisory, an aerospace consulting firm.
A full investigation could take more than a year, and the unusual incident has raised more questions than answers, including why the landing gear did not deploy. Even in the event of a hydraulic malfunction, Boeing 737-800 pilots can lower the landing gear manually.
One theory involves a possible collision with a bird that disabled the engines.
“If that happens at the altitude they were at, they may not have had time to make emergency checklists,” said Jeff Guzzetti, a retired aviation safety investigator for the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board. . and the Federal Aviation Administration. He also said that if the plane had not hit a hard wall at the end of the runway, it would have been easier to survive the crash.
The NTSB leads the U.S. team of investigators that also includes boeing and the FAA, since the aircraft was manufactured and certified in the United States.
According to international protocols, the country where the accident took place will lead the general investigation.
