Aviation expert reveals why black box data on doomed South Korean jet stopped working after ‘domino of catastrophes’
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THE Jeju Air jet crash in South Korea and the failure of its black box may have been caused by a series of catastrophes sparked by a bird strike, an expert has said. The crash at Muan International Airport on December 29 killed 179 people after the plane did an emergency landing, hit a concrete slab at the end of the runway, and exploded into a fireball.
![[Black smoke and flames pouring from the wreckage]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/371ea73c-5717-4687-8fad-cb26b94df843_0f2a4e.jpg?strip=all&w=604)
On Saturday morning, the South Korean transport ministry revealed that flight data and cockpit voice recorders stopped processing data four minutes before the crash. Investigators are now keen to discover how the aircraft's black boxes - which are designed to be almost indestructible - stopped working at their most crucial moment.
![[Burning wreckage of a plane that crashed at Muan International Airport.]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/175-passengers-crashes-muan-international-960329030.jpg?strip=all&w=960)
Julian Bray, an aviation expert and major incident consultant spoke to The Sun about the ongoing investigation and shared his thoughts on what led to the deaths of 179 people and the black box failure. He explained how the Honeywell black box likely stopped because of a power outage affecting the entire aircraft as older models do not have an independent power supply.
![[One of the survivors of the disaster being taken to hospital]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/passenger-rescued-aircraft-drove-off-960290550.jpg?strip=all&w=960)
This sudden power cut could have been caused by the bird strike pilots reported to air traffic control moments before the disaster, Bray suggested. In this scenario, the hydraulics controlling the undercarriage could have cut out which explains why it was not deployed, and the pilot may have had a reduced number of controls.
![[Timeline infographic of a South Korean plane crash at Muan International Airport, showing events leading up to the crash, including a bird strike and mayday call.]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/AP-30-12-S-KOREA-PLANE-CRASH-v2_d89161.jpg?strip=all&w=758)
