THE pilot on the South Korean plane crash completed a “beautiful” emergency landing but was it was foiled by a deadly concrete wall, aviation experts said.
Heroic efforts saw the Jeju Air Boeing 737-800 come to a virtual halt after it was crippled by a bird strike before landing on its belly and erupting into a fireball – leaving 179 dead.
Heartbroken families and officials are now facing a desperate hunt for answers over the crash.
Investigators are set to comb through the charred wreckage to find out how the deadliest air disaster of 2024 could have happened.
One of Britain’s most experienced aviation experts has blamed the tragedy on the airport’s fatal design flaw.
The plane exploded when it collided with a brick or concrete wall “which should not have been there” at the end of the 2,800-metre runway.
David Learmount of Flight International Magazine said this runway landing beacon was improperly placed at the airport and rendered the pilot’s heroic landing in vain.
He added that the structures are usually collapsible in other airports rather than being concrete to prevent fatal collisions.
David said: “I don’t know what standards they think were appropriate but other airports do not put the instrument landing system antennae in a concrete structure.
“What we saw in the video was the aircraft being put down beautifully – it was perfectly level.
“It was sliding on its belly and going very fast, possibly because the pilot couldn’t get the flaps down because the hydraulics had failed after a bird strike.
“That’s why the aircraft went over the end of the runway – and that’s why you don’t put solid structures immediately in the overrun.”
The aviation pro says pilot’s are trained to know how to land without the appropriate landing gear with it often being completely survivable if done correctly.
Ground crews are typically prepared to leap into action and help safely escort crew and passengers if a belly landing takes place.
David heaped praise on the pilot for his calm and effective landing and said the disaster only happened due to the wall.
“If that hadn’t been there everybody would be alive now,” he added.
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Captain Mike Vivien, an air safety and security consultant, also spoke on the wall’s presence at the airport.
He said: “A brick wall was not necessarily precluded by regulations but whether it was too strong is another matter.
“Why the wall was there is a possibility which will have to be looked at.”
Jeju Air Flight 7C2216 carrying 181 people from Bangkok was approaching Muan when video showed its right engine being struck by what appeared to be a bird.
The collision may have forced the pilot to shut down the damaged engine as he abandoned his first attempt to land.
He then made another approach from the opposite direction, attempting to belly land the plane even though its wheels would not lock down.
Passengers appeared to be aware of the danger as the jet circled before its fatal landing – with at least one sending a text message to loved ones from their phones.
One doomed woman’s final text message was revealed to have said: “Should I say my last words?”
Footage showed the plane hurtling along the tarmac with smoke pouring from its fuselage as it skidded along the whole length of the runway.
But no flames erupted until it struck the concrete wall – which is believed to have detonated the killer fireball by rupturing fuel tanks.
Rescue teams raced to the scene and, incredibly, pulled two survivors from the rear of the blazing wreck.
They were later reported to be a 33-year-old male cabin steward and a stewardess in her 20s.
But everyone else on board died in the flames amid horrific scenes as the accident was declared South Korea’s worst air smash in two decades.
The official death toll yesterday hit 179 – with all 175 passengers and four of the six crew killed.
Five children under 10 were among the dead with the youngest victim identified as a three-year-old toddler while the oldest was 78.
Most of the dead were said to be Koreans returning from package holiday trips to Thailand on the budget airline, which had never reported a fatal crash until yesterday.
BY James Halpin, Foreign News Reporter
SOUTH Korea has suffered its deadliest air disaster in two decades as a jet carrying 181 went down with only two survivors.
4.29am – Jeju Air flight 7C 2216 leaves Bangkok carrying tourists coming home from package holidays in Thailand.
8.57am – Pilot receives bird strike warning on approach to Muan International Airport.
8.58am – Pilot issues a mayday call – and witnesses report hearing an “explosion” overheard as video shows an apparent bird strike.
9.00am – Plane aborts first landing attempt on Runway 01.
9.03am – The jet then attempts a second landing on Runway 19 on its belly – and crashes in a fireball.
A 60-year-old man was left distraught with grief at the airport after losing five members of his family across three generations in the horror.
The pilot was reported to have made a mayday call after the bird strike and had to abort a landing attempt several minutes later.
It remained unclear why the jet’s undercarriage failed as bird strikes do not usually trigger faults with landing gear.
Shocked rescuers said 11 of the bodies recovered from the charred wreck were too badly burned to be formally identified last night.
But investigators quickly recovered the jet’s Black Box flight recorder which may provide vital clues as to the cause of the tragedy.
Soldiers and emergency crews were last night still combing the runway and surrounding fields searching for crash investigation clues.
Passengers and crew were flung out of the plane on impact with the airport barrier and the explosion – leaving little chance of survival, the South Jeolla Fire Service said.
A fire service spokesman said: “The plane is almost completely destroyed, and identifying the deceased is proving difficult.
“The process is taking time as we locate and recover the remains.”
Muan International Airport is in Muan county, about 179 miles southwest of Seoul.
The accident took place at 9.03am local time – just after midnight UK time – on Sunday.
Lee Jeong-hyun, chief of Muan fire station, said: “The cause of the accident is presumed to be a bird strike combined with adverse weather conditions.”
Jeju Air said the jet’s captain had been in post since 2019 and had more than 9,800 hours of flight experience.
THE South Korea smash came within hours of two other crashing landings across the globe – but neither resulted in any deaths.
A KLM Royal Dutch Airlines flight veered off the runway at Oslo Torp Sandefjord Airport in Norway on Saturday after a hydraulic failure forced the aircraft to divert.
The Boeing 737-800 – the same model as the Jeju Air jet – was en route from Oslo to Amsterdam when it experienced a hydraulic failure shortly after takeoff.
Air traffic controllers diverted the plane with 176 passengers and six crew on board – to Sandefjord, 68 miles south of Oslo where it skidded off the runway.
But it remained intact after stopping in soft grass near a taxiway and no injuries were reported.
Hours after the Korea smash, a third landing gear failure aboard Air Canada Flight 2259 sparked another crash landing, this time at the airport at Halifax, Nova Scotia.
This time, a de Havilland DHC-8-402 aircraft operated by PAL Airlines suffered a landing gear failure which sparked a fire as one of its wings scraped the runway.
None of the 73 passengers and crew flying from St Johns were hurt – and the three crash landings were not believed to be connected in any way.
