Jeju Air black boxes ceased recording before plane crash, South Korea says

Transport ministry is investigating the origin of the information nonaccomplishment pursuing the worst-ever aviation catastrophe successful the country’s history.

The achromatic boxes holding formation information and cockpit dependable recorders of Jeju Air’s Boeing 737-800 jet stopped signaling astir 4 minutes earlier the level catastrophe successful South Korea successful December, the country’s transport ministry has said.

Jeju Air’s Flight 7C2216 was flying from Thailand to Muan International Airport successful South Korea connected December 29, erstwhile it belly-landed, slammed into a factual obstruction and exploded, killing 179 of the 181 passengers and crew.

It was the worst-ever aviation catastrophe connected South Korean soil.

“The investigation revealed that some the CVR and FDR information were not recorded during the 4 minutes starring up to the aircraft’s collision with the localiser,” South Korea’s transport ministry said connected Saturday, referring to the 2 signaling devices.

The localiser is simply a obstruction astatine the extremity of the runway that helps with craft landings and was blamed for exacerbating the crash’s severity.

The dependable recorder was initially analysed successful South Korea, and, erstwhile information was recovered to beryllium missing, was sent to a United States National Transportation Safety Board laboratory, the ministry said.

But it appears that the boxes holding clues to the flight’s last moments experienced information loss, leaving authorities trying to find retired what happened.

“Plans are successful spot to analyse the origin of the information nonaccomplishment during the ongoing mishap investigation,” the ministry said.

Sim Jai-dong, a erstwhile transport ministry mishap investigator, told Reuters quality bureau that the find of the missing information was astonishing and suggested each power, including backup, whitethorn person been chopped successful the plane, which is rare.

Investigators said the boxes were important to their probe but added they would not springiness up connected trying to find retired wherefore the clang happened.

Investigators person pointed to a vertebrate strike, faulty landing cogwheel and the runway obstruction arsenic imaginable issues.

The aviator had besides warned of a vertebrate onslaught earlier pulling retired of a archetypal landing and initiating a go-around.

But alternatively of making a afloat go-about, the Boeing 737-800 jet took a crisp crook and approached the airport’s azygous runway from the other end, crash-landing without landing cogwheel deployed.

This week, pb researcher Lee Seung-yeol told reporters that “feathers were found” successful 1 of the plane’s recovered engines, but cautioned a vertebrate onslaught does not pb to an contiguous motor failure.

Authorities person raided offices astatine Muan airdrome wherever the clang took place, a determination aviation bureau successful the southwestern city, and Jeju Air’s bureau successful the capital, Seoul.

They besides barred Jeju Air’s main enforcement from leaving the country.

As the probe continues, transport curate Park Sang-woo offered his resignation earlier this week, saying helium feels “a dense consciousness of work regarding this tragedy”.

Source

:

Al Jazeera and quality agencies