Jeju Air black boxes stopped recording before plane crash, South Korea says | Aviation news

The Ministry of Transport is investigating the cause of the data loss following the worst aviation disaster in the country’s history.

The black boxes containing the flight data and the cockpit voice recorders Jeju Air Boeing 737-800 stopped recording about four minutes before the plane disaster in South Korea in December, the country’s transport ministry said.

Jeju Air Flight 7C2216 was flying from Thailand to Muan International Airport in South Korea on December 29, when it landed, crashed into a concrete barrier and exploded, killing 179 of the 181 passengers and crew.

It was the worst aviation disaster on South Korean soil.

“Analysis revealed that both CVR and FDR data were not recorded during the four minutes preceding the collision of the aircraft with the localizer,” South Korea’s Ministry of Transportation said Saturday, in reference to both recording devices.

The localizer is a barrier at the end of the runway that helps the aircraft land and was hit to aggravate the severity of the crash.

The voice recorder was initially analyzed in South Korea, and when the data was found to be missing, it was sent to a US National Transportation Safety Board laboratory, the ministry said.

But it seems that the boxes containing clues to the final moments of the flight have experienced data loss, leaving the authorities trying to find out what happened.

“Plans are in place to investigate the cause of the data loss during the ongoing accident investigation,” the ministry said.

Sim Jai-dong, a former transport ministry accident investigator, told Reuters news agency that the discovery of the missing data was surprising and suggested that all power, including backup, could being cut in the plane, which is rare.

Investigators said the boxes were crucial to their probe, but added that they have not given up trying to find out why the crash happened.

Investigators pointed to a bird strike, a faulty landing gear and the runway barrier as possible problems.

The pilot had also warned of a bird strike before pulling out of a first landing and starting a regatta.

But instead of making a full day, the Boeing 737-800 jet It took a sharp turn and approached the airport’s single runway from the opposite end, landing without a landing gear.

This week, lead investigator Lee Seung-yeol told reporters that “feathers were found” in one of the plane’s recovered engines, but warned that a bird strike would not lead to an immediate failure of the engine.

Authorities raided offices at Muan Airport where the crash occurred, a regional aviation office in the southwestern city and Jeju Air’s office in the capital, Seoul.

They too prevented the CEO of Jeju Air from leaving the country.

As the probe continues, Transport Minister Park Sang-woo offered his resignation earlier this week, saying he feels “a strong sense of responsibility regarding this tragedy”.