"Firefighters respond to the wreckage of a passenger plane at Muan International Airport on December 30, 2024, in Muan-gun, South Korea. (Photo by Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images)"Seoul, South Korea (Reuters) — South Korean authorities investigating last month’s Jeju Air plane crash have submitted a preliminary accident report to the UN aviation agency, as well as to officials in the United States, France, and Thailand, an official confirmed on Monday.
The ongoing investigation into the nation’s deadliest air disaster focuses on the role of a possible “bird strike” and includes analyses of the plane’s engines and the localizer landing guidance system, according to the report released Monday.
“These comprehensive investigation efforts aim to establish the precise cause of the accident,” the report stated.
As per the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) guidelines, preliminary reports must be submitted within 30 days of an accident, with the final report encouraged for release within 12 months.
The crash involved a Boeing 737-800 jet en route from Bangkok to Muan International Airport. On December 29, the aircraft overshot the runway during an emergency belly landing and collided with the localizer structure, killing 179 of the 181 passengers and crew on board.
The localizer, a critical navigation aid for runway approaches, was housed within a reinforced concrete and earth structure at Muan Airport, which experts suggest may have contributed to the severity of the crash.
Initial findings presented to victims’ families on Saturday were reiterated in the report, including pilot discussions about spotting a flock of birds during the final approach.
The exact timing of the bird strike remains unclear, but the pilots declared an emergency due to the incident during a go-around maneuver, the report noted.
“Examinations of both engines revealed feathers and bird blood stains,” the report added. “After the aircraft struck the embankment, a fire and partial explosion occurred. Both engines were buried in the embankment’s soil, and debris from the forward fuselage was scattered across a distance of 30 to 200 meters.”
Notably, the report highlighted that the plane’s two data recorders stopped recording about four minutes before the pilots declared a mayday. At the time, the aircraft was flying at an altitude of 498 feet (152 meters) and a speed of 161 knots (298 km/h or 185 mph).
The cause of the simultaneous failure of the data recorders remains undetermined.
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