Pilot Blog | Jeju Air Crash | Preliminary Report shows Both Engines Bird strike
2,697Here I just the know fact and only my opinion about the Crash. There are many questions that could not be answered at this point so we need more data and investiogation team will find out what happened.
A Jeju Boeing 737-800, registration HL8088 performing flight 7C-2216 from Bangkok (Thailand) to Muan (South Korea) with 175 passengers and 6 crew, landed on Muan's runway 19 at about 09:03L (00:03Z) with all gear up, overran the runway sliding on fuselage and engines, impacted a concrete fence about 300 meters (1000 feet) past the runway end and burst into a fireball. Two people have been rescued alive, 120 bodies have been recovered, there are no hopes for more survivors.
Muan's Fire Fighters reported the malfunction of the landing gear, likely caused by a bird strike, prompted a go around. The aircraft then attempted another landing in adverse weather conditions. However, the exact cause needs to be determined by a following joint investigation.
Authorities reported two survivors, a male and female, both cabin crew, were rescued alive with mid to serious injuries from the tail of the aircraft.
South Korea's Ministry of Transport reported there were several issues including bird strike and landing gear malfunctions, they will thoroughly investigate to find out the causes. The ministry later added, a bird strike warning had been issued at 08:57L about 6 minutes prior to the crash, about one minute after the bird strike warning the crew declared Mayday at 08:58L while on final approach to runway 01, tower cleared the aircraft to land on opposite runway (19), the aircraft crashed 5 minutes after declaring Mayday. The flight data recorder has been recovered, the cockpit voice recorder is yet to be recovered.
A ground observer reported that the aircraft flew through a flock of birds, two or three pop-sounds were heard as if the birds were ingested into engines, flames were seen from the right hand engine. The aircraft climbed a little but seemed to be unable to climb further and landed opposite direction. When the aircraft overflew the observer, it had the landing gear down.
The hospital reported one of the flight attendants suffered a fractured shoulder and head injuries, but was conscious and was able to walk.
ADS-B data received from the airplane ceased at 900 feet at 08:58L (23:58Z Dec 28th) while on approach to runway 01 - previous flights were received until the transponder was switched off at the apron. The videos show the aircraft was skidding on runway 19 before impacting the concrete fence.