Jeju Air’s Boeing 737-800 takes off from Osaka Kansai Airport.
Fabrizio Gandolfo | Lightrocket | Getty Images
Crash investigators are trying to figure out what caused a Jeju Air plane to land belly-up without a broken landing gear at Muan International Airport in South Korea, killing all but two of the 181 people on board as it burst into flames in the country’s worst aviation disaster. in decades.
Acting South Korean President Choi Sang-mok ordered a state of emergency inspection countries Boeing 737-800s, the type of aircraft used on the fatal Jeju Air Flight 7C2216.
The Boeing 737-800 is one of the most widely used aircraft in the world and has a strong safety record. It predates the Boeing 737 Max, the type involved in two fatal crashes in 2018 and 2019 that killed all 346 people on those flights. The 737 Max was grounded for almost two years.
There are nearly 4,400 737-800 aircraft in use worldwide, according to aviation data firm Cirium. This means that this model makes up about 17% of the world fleet of commercial passenger jets in service.
The average age of the global 737-800 fleet is 13 years, according to Cirium, and the last of the series of planes were delivered about five years ago.
Jeju Air took possession of the plane involved in the crash this weekend in 2017. It was previously operated by European discount carrier Ryanair, according to Flightradar24. The aircraft involved in the accident was about 15 years old.
Aviation experts say investigators are unlikely to find a problem with the long-range craft’s design.
“The idea that they would find a design flaw at this point is borderline unthinkable,” said Richard Aboulafia, director of AeroDynamic Advisory, an aerospace consulting firm.
A full investigation could take more than a year, and the unusual incident has raised more questions than answers, such as why the landing gear did not deploy. Even with a hydraulic failure, Boeing 737-800 pilots can manually lower the landing gear.
One theory involves a possible bird strike that disabled the engines.
“If it happened at the altitude they were at, they may not have had time to make emergency lists,” said Jeff Guzzetti, a retired aviation safety investigator with the US National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration. He also said that the crash could have been more easily survived if the plane had not hit a hard wall at the end of the runway.
The NTSB is leading a US team of investigators that also includes Boeing and the FAA, since the aircraft was manufactured and certified in the United States.
According to international protocols, the country where the accident occurred will lead the entire investigation.
