The wreckage of the Jeju Air aircraft that went off the runway and crashed at Muan International Airport lies near a concrete structure it crashed into, in Muan, South Korea, December 30, 2024.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

South Korea will release by Monday (January 27, 2025) a preliminary report on last month’s Jeju Air plane crash that killed 179 people, the deadliest air disaster on the nation’s soil, the Transport Ministry said on Saturday, January 25, 2025.

One area under investigation is what role a bird strike played in the December 29 crash of flight 7C2216 as it arrived at Muan International Airport from Bangkok, according to a Ministry statement.

The report will be sent to the International Civil Aviation Organization as well as the United States, France and Thailand, the Ministry said. Seoul has been cooperating with investigators from the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board and France’s Bureau of Enquiry and Analysis for Civil Aviation Safety.

It will take several months to analyse and verify flight data and cockpit voice recordings, which stopped recording four minutes and seven seconds before the crash, and communication recordings with the control tower, the ministry said.

At 08:58:11 a.m., the pilots discussed birds flying under the Boeing 737-800, then declared mayday at 08:58:56, reporting a bird strike while the plane was on a go-around, the statement said. Airport CCTV footage also showed the plane making “contact” with birds during the go-around, it said.

Also Read | South Korea to remove concrete embankment blamed for Jeju plane crash

Previously the Ministry had said the pilots issued the distress signal due to bird strikes before going around.

The jet crashed at 9:02:57 a.m., slamming into an embankment and bursting into flames that killed everyone aboard except for two crew members in the tail section.

The surveillance footage was taken from too far away to see if there was a spark from the bird strike but it “confirmed the plane making contact with birds, though the exact time is unclear,” a ministry official told Reuters.

Duck feathers and blood were found in both of the plane’s GE Aerospace engines, the ministry said.

The Ministry said it would conduct a separate analysis of the role of the concrete embankment that supported navigation antennas called “localisers”. The Ministry said on Wednesday that it would remove the embankment, which experts said likely made the disaster more deadly.

The wreckage of the Jeju Air aircraft that went off the runway and crashed at Muan International Airport lies near a concrete structure it crashed into, in Muan, South Korea. File
| Photo Credit: Reuters

South Korea’s Transport Ministry said on Wednesday (January 22, 2025) that it would remove the concrete embankment installed at Muan International Airport following last month’s Jeju Air crash, its deadliest domestic air disaster.

While investigators are still probing what caused Jeju Air flight 7C2216 to crash, including reported bird strikes, experts have said the massive berm that supported navigation antennas at the end of the runway likely made the disaster more deadly than it might have been otherwise.

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In some of the first widespread reforms announced since the crash, authorities said they will make new foundations or other adjustments for similar antennas at seven airports including Muan and Jeju International Airport — one of South Korea’s busiest — that are either below ground level or easy to break.

The decision came after reviewing the structures housing the antennas that guide landings at the airports across the country known as Instrument Landing Systems (ILS), or a “localiser”.

“Muan International Airport plans to completely remove the existing concrete and reinstall the localiser in a fragile structure,” the ministry said in a statement.

The December 29 crash killed 179 people, with only two crew members seated near the rear of the Boeing 737-800 aircraft surviving.

Video footage showed the passenger jet slamming into the structure and exploding after landing at high speed without gear down and skidding past the end of the runway.

The runway design has also been criticised as failing to meet safety standards, prompting authorities to extend post-runway safety zones that are free of major obstacles.

The Transport Ministry said it will ensure a 240-metre (787-ft) long runway safety area at all airports to meet all relevant regulations. The area at Muan airport was about 200 metres long before the crash.

Police said separately that Son Chang-wan, the former president of the state-run Korea Airports Corporation who was in office when the structure at Muan airport was renovated, was found dead in his home on Tuesday of an apparent suicide.

“Son was not under investigation over the plane crash and had not been summoned for questioning over it,” a police official said.

A shutdown of Muan airport has been extended until April 18, the transport ministry said on Saturday.