Jeju Air crash victims’ families file lawsuit against Boeing
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The lawsuit centres on allegedly antiquated electrical and hydraulic systems that supposedly interfered with the landing.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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SEOUL – The bereaved families of Jeju Air crash victims are seeking compensation against Boeing in a US court, alleging manufacturing defects caused the accident that killed 179 people in December.
US-based Herman Lawgroup, representing 14 of the families, filed a lawsuit on their behalf against Boeing at the Superior Court of King County in Seattle, Washington. The Wisner Law Firm, also representing victims’ families, sued the US aircraft manufacturer in the Illinois state court.
The lawsuit centres on allegedly antiquated electrical and hydraulic systems that supposedly interfered with the landing.
Mr Charles Herrmann, the lead attorney in the Seattle case, was quoted by US media as saying that Boeing “resorts to its old, worn-out ‘blame the pilots’ tactic”, rather than to admit its own fault.
The crash of Jeju Air flight 7C 2216
The plane crash landed on the runway without deploying the landing gear due to yet-unconfirmed causes, striking a concrete-reinforced berm that led to an explosion. All but two people on board were killed.
An official investigation into the cause of the accident is still ongoing, but an interim announcement of the government’s findings in July suggested pilot error. After a bird strike that severely damaged the right engine, the pilot is believed to have shut down the left engine that was still functional
But the government’s announcements sparked a backlash from the bereaved families, who demanded that the officials reveal the data from the doomed plane’s black box, transmission records with the tower and more specific information about the state of the engines.
It was suggested in the preliminary investigation that both engines were damaged by the bird strike.
The final announcement of the government findings is expected to be made in June 2026.
The ongoing lawsuit in the US traces the alleged decline in Boeing’s safety protocols to years ago and accuses the company of failing to modernise its core electrical and hydraulic architectures.
The plaintiffs in the Seattle suit claimed that the bird strike triggered a series of critical system failures, despite the actions by seasoned pilots flying the aircraft. THE KOREA HERALD/ASIA NEWS NETWORK
