Mystery South Korea plane crash deepens as expert slams 'almost criminal' error
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Nearly 200 lives were lost in a harrowing plane crash in South Korea over the weekend - and experts are still plauged by unanswered questions from the tragedy. The Jeju Air disaster was the country's worst-ever crash to date, as a total of 179 passengers died after the Boeing 737-800 aircraft skidded on Muan International Airport's single runway before crashing and errupting into a fireball. Only the tail section of the plane remained in tact, and only two people on-board survived.
Flight 7C2216 was coming into land when its bird strike warning from the control centre went off. A mayday message was issued by the pilot and moments later, the plane landed, seemingly without using its wheels or any other landing gear, and overshot the 2,800m runway. It then slammed into a concrete fence 250m off the end of the runway and exploded.
The pilot reported that the aircraft had struck a bird and requested permission to land from the opposite direction, aborting the original plan for landing. Experts initially suggested that the aircraft may have suffered hydraulic failure after striking a bird, which could have also prevented the landing gear from deploying.
But questions have been raised on whether hitting a bird - a relatively common occcurance when flying - would have been impactful enough to prevent the pilot from lowering the landing gear. Instead, aviation specialists are now pointing to another 'defining moment' of the disaster - the concrete wall at the end of the doomed strip.
