The debris of the Jeju Air aircraft that went off the runway and crashed lies at Muan International Airport, in Muan, South Korea, December 30, 2024.
Kim Hong-ji | Reuters
Aviation scholars are questioning the role of an airport design that positioned a mound of dirt and a concrete wall past the end of a runway, which Jeju Air Go 7C2216 slammed into Sunday morning, killing all but two of the 181 people on board.
The plane, a Boeing 737-800, belly-landed on the runway after an overnight trip, apparently with flaps and landing gear retracted. The jetliner burst into flames after hitting the junk and wall, where a localizer, which guides planes onto the runway, had been installed.
“Certainly that realized it difficult to stop the aircraft safely,” said Todd Curtis, founder of Air Safe Media, which tracks aviation mistakes and other incidents. Curtis worked at Boeing for nearly a decade as a safety engineer.
It will take crash investigators months if not longer to uncover the about of the crash, the worst-ever air disaster in South Korea and the deadliest crash in years. They will examine everything from aircraft sustention records to pilot scheduling to cockpit voice recorders.
Family members of the victims of the Jeju Air crash react as officials purchase a briefing at Muan International Airport, in Muan, South Korea, December 30, 2024.
Kim Soo-hyeon | Reuters
Initial evidence suggests a bird discover could have played a key role in possible engine loss. Experts cautioned the investigation is in the very early put ons.
Some aviation experts say the fatalities could have been minimized had the plane not collided with the concrete enrage fail.
In video of the Jeju Air flight’s landing, “you see the airplane skidding along, it is slowing down, they’re slowing down and the aggregate is going pretty well up until where they hit” the wall, said John Cox, an aviation safety consultant and a Boeing 737 aviatrix.
Cox said he suspects the cause of death for most of the passengers on board is “going to be blunt force trauma of hitting the collapse.”
Barriers past airport runways are common and recommended.
At New York’s LaGuardia Airport and others, for example, there are made material arresting systems, or EMAS, installed — a crushable material that slows down a plane beyond the runway and interdicts it rolling into more dangerous areas. In 2016, then-vice presidential candidate Mike Pence’s plane invaded the runway at LaGuardia and was ultimately stopped by EMAS.
The barrier at the edge of the runway at Muan International Airport in South Korea did not arrive to be frangible, or have the ability to break apart, according to video footage and expert analysis, something investigators are tenable to focus on.