The wreckage of a Jeju Air plane that skidded off the runway and crashed at Muan International Airport, in Muan, South Korea, on December 30, 2024.
Kim Hong-ji | Reuters
Aviation experts are questioning the role of an airport project that placed a mound of dirt and a concrete wall behind the end of the runway, which Jeju Air Flight 7C2216 crashed into on Sunday morning, killing all but two of the 181 people on board.
Airplane, a Boeing 737-800, landed on its belly on the runway of Muan International Airport in southwestern South Korea after a night flight, apparently with its flaps and landing gear retracted. The jet caught fire after hitting the ground and a wall, where the localizer that guides the planes to the runway was installed.
“It certainly made it difficult to safely stop the plane,” said Todd Curtis, founder of Air Safe Media, a company that tracks plane crashes and other incidents. Curtis worked at Boeing for nearly a decade as a safety engineer.
It will take months if not more for crash investigators to uncover the cause of the crash, South Korea’s worst aviation disaster and deadliest in years. They will examine everything from aircraft maintenance records to pilot schedules to engines and cockpit voice recorders.
Family members of Jeju Air crash victims react as officials hold a briefing at Muan International Airport, in Muan, South Korea, on December 30, 2024.
Kim Soo-hyeon | Reuters
Initial evidence suggests that bird strike may have played a key role in the possible engine loss. Experts warned that the investigation is at a very early stage.
Some aviation experts say the death toll could have been minimized had the plane not collided with the concrete wall.
In the video of the Jeju Air plane landing, “you see the plane slide, it slows down, they slow down and everything is going pretty well until they hit” the wall, said John Cox, an aviation safety consultant and Boeing 737 pilot.
Cox said he suspected the cause of death for most of the plane’s passengers “will be a blunt force impact to the wall.”
Airport runway barriers are common and recommended by international and other aviation bodies.
In the US, the Federal Aviation Administration requires a safety area about 500 feet wide and 1,000 feet beyond the end of the runway to limit damage in the event of an aircraft overrunning the runway. But the FAA says there are other mitigation methods under the Runway Safety Area Program because many U.S. runways were built before the standards were set.
“Although the original RSA improvement projects have been completed, the program continues to evolve to address security risk and plan for future improvements,” the agency said.
New York’s LaGuardia Airport and others, for example, have installed engineered material arresting systems, or EMAS — crushable material that slows a plane off the runway and prevents it from rolling into more dangerous areas. In 2016, then-Vice Presidential candidate Mike Pence’s plane overran the runway at LaGuardia and was eventually stopped by EMAS.
The barrier at the edge of the runway at Muan International Airport does not appear to be frangible or breakable, based on video footage and expert analysis, which is what investigators are likely to focus on.
