South Korea to launch preliminary report of Jeju Air crash by Monday

SEOUL (Reuters) – South Korea will launch by Monday a preliminary report on final month’s Jeju Air airplane crash that killed 179 individuals, the deadliest air catastrophe on the nation’s soil, the transport ministry stated on Saturday.

One space beneath investigation is what position a hen strike performed within the Dec. 29 crash of flight 7C2216 because it arrived at Muan Worldwide Airport from Bangkok, in line with a ministry assertion.

The report might be despatched to the Worldwide Civil Aviation Group in addition to the US, France and Thailand, the ministry stated. Seoul has been cooperating with investigators from the U.S. Nationwide Transportation Security Board and France’s Bureau of Enquiry and Evaluation for Civil Aviation Security.

It’ll take a number of months to analyse and confirm flight information and cockpit voice recordings, which stopped recording 4 minutes and 7 seconds earlier than the crash, and communication recordings with the management tower, the ministry stated.

At 08:58:11 a.m., the pilots mentioned birds flying beneath the Boeing (NYSE:BA) 737-800, then declared mayday at 08:58:56, reporting a hen strike whereas the airplane was on a go-around, the assertion stated. Airport CCTV footage additionally confirmed the airplane making “contact” with birds in the course of the go-around, it stated.

Beforehand the ministry had stated the pilots issued the misery sign because of hen strikes earlier than going round.

The jet crashed at 9:02:57 a.m., slamming into an embankment and bursting into flames that killed everybody aboard besides for 2 crew members within the tail part.

The surveillance footage was taken from too far-off to see if there was a spark from the hen strike however it “confirmed the airplane making contact with birds, although the precise time is unclear,” a ministry official advised Reuters.

Duck feathers and blood have been present in each of the airplane’s GE Aerospace engines, the ministry stated.

The ministry stated it could conduct a separate evaluation of the position of the concrete embankment that supported navigation antennas referred to as “localisers”. The ministry stated on Wednesday that it could take away the embankment, which consultants stated possible made the catastrophe extra lethal.