South Korea Orders Emergency Safety Inspections of Boeing 737-800 After Deadly Crash

GG News Bureau
Seoul, 31st Dec. South Korean officials have announced emergency safety inspections of all Boeing 737-800 aircraft flown by the nation’s carriers following a deadly crash on December 30th. The crash of a Jeju Air flight 7C2216 at Muan International Airport resulted in the deaths of 179 people, including 175 passengers and four crew members. Two crew members survived the ordeal.

The flight, arriving from Bangkok, aborted its initial landing attempt before a distress signal was sent, citing a bird strike warning. On its second attempt, the aircraft skidded off the runway, crashed into a wall, and exploded. The front landing gear failed to deploy, and the plane belly-landed, sliding into a slope at the runway’s end. The cause of the crash remains under investigation.

Choi Sang-mok, the acting president of South Korea, chaired an urgent task force meeting to evaluate the nation’s aviation safety protocols. As the finance minister and deputy prime minister, Choi emphasized the need for a comprehensive overhaul of South Korea’s aviation safety system to prevent similar incidents in the future. “We ask that officials transparently disclose the accident investigation process and promptly inform the bereaved families,” he stated.

The South Korean Transport Ministry has confirmed plans to conduct safety checks on all 101 Boeing 737-800s flown by local airlines. This includes a more detailed review of Jeju Air’s operations, which controls 39 of the aircraft. Boeing and representatives from the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) are also scheduled to participate in the investigation.

The investigation will focus on several potential causes, including bird strikes, pilot communication errors, and the aircraft’s control systems. There are also questions surrounding the structural integrity of the Muan airport’s localizer, which was struck by the aircraft. Similar lightweight structures are used at other airports in South Korea, raising concerns about their ability to withstand such incidents.

Experts are questioning why the aircraft appeared to be moving too quickly during its final descent and why the landing gear was not deployed. Flight data and cockpit audio recorders from the aircraft have been sent for examination at Gimpo airport.

The crash has further fueled concerns over the administration’s ability to manage disaster response, especially following the political unrest caused by the martial law declaration under the now-impeached President Yoon. Public anxiety is compounded by the absence of key disaster management officials.

The NTSB, the agency responsible for investigating aviation accidents in the United States, will automatically be involved in the investigation under international aviation regulations, which will be led by South Korean authorities.