Korean authorities vow complete review of all 101 737-800s in the country
| A passerby watches a news broadcast about the crash of a Jeju Air aircraft, at Seoul Station on Monday. (Im Se-jun/The Korea Herald) |
Boeing's 737-800 model has come under close scrutiny after one operated by Korea’s Jeju Air crashed at Muan International Airport in South Jeolla Province on Sunday morning, killing 179 passengers and crew members.
The flight, which took off from Bangkok that morning, failed to activate its landing gear and attempted a belly landing, but slid along the runway into a perimeter wall.
Another plane of the same model, also operated by Jeju Air, departed Gimpo International Airport in Seoul en route to Jeju International Airport at 6:37 a.m. on Monday, but returned to Gimpo Airport after an issue was detected with its landing gear. The flight landed safely at Gimpo at 7:25 a.m.
Of the 161 passengers, 21 declined to get on a replacement flight offered by Jeju Air, citing safety worries. The replacement flight, which was also a Boeing 737-800, took off from Gimpo at 8:47 a.m. and safely landed on Jeju Island at 9:39 a.m.
Malfunctions have been reported elsewhere recently in the Boeing 737-800, which is one of the bestselling models in the US planemaker’s 737 lineup and one of the most widely used planes in the world.
“The 737-800 is a model in the Next-Generation 737 series, which preceded the 737 Max. There are about 6,000 Next-Generation 737s flying globally. Boeing concluded 737 (Next-Generation) deliveries in 2020,” said a Boeing spokesperson.
A KLM Royal Dutch Airlines Boeing 737-800 that took off from Oslo Airport on Saturday had to make an emergency landing at the same airport after a loud noise was heard. According to reports, the aircraft veered off the runway into grass at a low speed after landing. No injuries were reported. Pilots reportedly told the control tower they could not control the aircraft.
In November, a Qantas Boeing 737-800 had to conduct an emergency landing shortly after taking off from Sydney, as the pilots detected an engine failure. The Australian Transport Safety Bureau began a probe into the incident.
The latest and deadliest accident involving a Boeing 737-800 prior to Jeju Air’s fatal crash at Muan International Airport took place in China in March 2022, when China Eastern Airlines flight 5735 crashed into the ground in the mountainous area of Teng County near Wuzhou, China. All 132 passengers and crew were killed.
The Aviation Technical Information System showed that there are 101 Boeing 737-800s registered with Korean the authorities for operation. Of them, Jeju Air operates 39, followed by T’way Air with 27, Jin Air with 19, Eastar Jet with 10, Air Incheon with four and Korean Air with two. Excluding Korean Air, the operators of the Boeing 737-800 are all low-cost carriers.
The crashed plane, registered as HL8088, was manufactured in 2009 and registered by Jeju Air in 2017.
The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said it will conduct a complete inspection of every Boeing 737-800 being operated by Korean air carriers.
After Sunday’s tragedy, Boeing said in a statement that it is “in contact” with Jeju Air in regards to the accident and stands ready to offer support, adding that the firm extends its deepest condolences to families who lost loved ones and that its thoughts remain with the passengers and crew.
The US National Transportation Safety Board has assembled an investigative team including officials from the US Federal Aviation Administration and Boeing to support the Korean authorities’ probe into the crash.
According to Korea's Land Ministry, the US investigative personnel are expected to arrive in the country Monday night as the joint probe is slated to begin later in the night.
Kim Chong-am, an aerospace engineering professor at Seoul National University, suggested that the focus should be on the swift recovery of evidence from the crash site instead of discussing possible accident scenarios.
"There is nothing we can figure out until we analyze the data (from the flight)," said Kim. "Presenting potential causes of the crash without the data is not helping anyone but only serves to spread rumors at a time when we should concentrate on dissecting the data."
Keith Tonkin, managing director of Australia-based Aviation Projects, expressed a similar view of the process, saying that it was important to understand what was wrong with the aircraft and why the pilots decided to land with such urgency that they could not, or did not, take the time to prepare for it as they would be expected to.
"For the moment, it is important to act on facts, and it seems as though very few are known," said Tonkin.
"The data recorder and cockpit voice recorder may provide some helpful information, and a detailed and thorough investigation will most likely reveal a range of issues that may require further consideration."
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