Experts suspect that bird strike was the cause of the fatal crash of the South Korean airliner Reuters
Author: Bart Meijer
(Reuters) – Uncertainties surround the deadliest crash on South Korean soil, experts said on Sunday, casting doubt on initial suggestions that Jeju Air Flight 7C2216 may have been brought down by a bird strike.
The apparent lack of landing gear, the timing of the twin-engine Boeing (NYSE: ) 737-800’s belly landing at Muan International Airport and reports of a possible bird strike have raised questions that have yet to be answered.
The single-aisle plane was seen in video broadcast by local media gliding down the runway with no visible landing gear before crashing into a wall in an explosion of flames and debris.
“Why didn’t the firefighters put foam on the runway? Why weren’t they present when the plane landed? And why did the plane land so deep down the runway? And why was there a brick wall at the end of the runway?” said Airline News editor Geoffrey Thomas.
South Korean officials said they were investigating the cause of the crash, including a possible bird strike, which killed nearly all 181 people on board.
The flight data recorder was found at 11:30 a.m. (0230 GMT), about two and a half hours after the crash, and the cockpit voice recorder was found at 2:24 p.m., according to South Korea’s transport ministry.
“It gives you all the parameters of all the systems on the plane. The heartbeat of the plane is on the flight data recorder,” Thomas said. “The voice recorder will probably provide the most interesting analysis of what happened in this tragic accident.”
Within minutes, the control tower issued a bird strike warning, the pilots declared may and then attempted to land, officials said, although it was unclear whether the aircraft struck any birds.
Experts say it seems unlikely that a bird strike would have caused the landing gear to malfunction.
“Bird strikes are not unusual, undercarriage problems are not uncommon. Bird strikes happen much more often, but they usually don’t cause the loss of the aircraft in and of themselves,” Thomas said.
Australian airline safety expert Geoffrey Dell (NYSE: ) said: “I’ve never seen a bird strike prevent the landing gear from retracting.”
Australian aviation consultant Trevor Jensen said fire and emergency services would normally be prepared for a belly landing, “so this seems unplanned”.
The bird strike could have affected CFM International’s engines if the flock had been sucked into them, but it would not have shut them down immediately, giving the pilots little time to deal with the situation, Dell said.
It was not clear why the plane did not slow down after hitting the runway, Dell and Jensen said.
Typically in belly landings, “You’re going to land on your engines and you’re going to have a bumpy ride,” Thomas said.
“You come in with minimal fuel, you have the firemen with you, you cover the runway with foam and you land at the far end of the runway and it usually ends up being an OK situation.”
