South Korea to release preliminary report of Jeju Air crash by Jan 27
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The jet crashed at 9.02am, slamming into an embankment and bursting into flames that killed everyone aboard except for two crew members.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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SEOUL - South Korea will release by Jan 27 a preliminary report on December’s Jeju Air plane crash that killed 179 people
One area under investigation is what role a bird strike played in the Dec 29 crash
The report will be sent to the International Civil Aviation Organisation as well as the United States, France and Thailand, the ministry said.
Seoul has been cooperating with investigators from the US National Transportation Safety Board and France’s Bureau of Enquiry and Analysis for Civil Aviation Safety.
It will take several months to analyse and verify flight data and cockpit voice recordings, which stopped recording four minutes and seven seconds
Just after 8.58am, the pilots discussed birds, then declared mayday 40 seconds later, reporting a bird strike while the plane was on a go-around, the statement said.
Airport CCTV footage also showed the plane making “contact” with birds during the go-around, it said.
Previously, the ministry had said the pilots issued the distress signal due to bird strikes before going around.
The jet crashed at 9.02am, slamming into an embankment and bursting into flames that killed everyone aboard except for two crew members in the tail section.
The surveillance footage was taken from too far away to see if there was a spark from the bird strike but it “confirmed the plane making contact with birds, though the exact time is unclear”, a ministry official told Reuters.
Duck feathers and blood were found in both of the plane's GE Aerospace engines, the ministry said.
The ministry said it would conduct a separate analysis of the role of the concrete embankment that supported navigation antennas called “localisers”.
The ministry said on Jan 22 that it would remove the embankment, which experts said likely made the disaster more deadly. REUTERS
