South Korea plane crash investigators extract data from Jeju Air black box
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Authorities hope for vital clues as contents of cockpit recorder are converted into audio format. Investigators in South Korea have extracted data from one of two “black boxes” retrieved from a Jeju Air plane that crashed shortly after landing on Sunday, killing all but two of the 181 people aboard.
The country’s deputy minister for civil aviation, Joo Jong-wan, said initial data had been retrieved from the Boeing 737-800’s cockpit voice recorder, adding that the contents were being converted into audio format. Authorities are hoping the voice recorder, along with a second black box containing the flight data recorder, will provide crucial clues about events leading up to the pilot’s attempt to land after the aircraft’s landing gear apparently failed to deploy.
The plane, on a return flight from Thailand, was carrying 175 passengers and six crew when the cockpit issued a mayday call and belly-landed on the runway at Muan international airport in the country’s south-west. The aircraft careered along the runway before hitting a barrier and bursting into flames, killing everyone aboard except two flight attendants who were pulled from the burning wreckage at the rear of the aircraft.
An “initial extraction (of the cockpit voice recorder) has already been completed,” Joo said. “Based on this preliminary data, we plan to start converting it into audio format,” he added, which will enable investigators to hear the pilots’ final communications.
