A Jeju Airlines Boeing 737-800 takes off from Osaka Kansai Airport.
Fabrizio Gandolfo | Rocket Lite | Getty Images
Accident investigators are trying to figure out why a Jeju Airlines flight crashed to Earth Without its landing gear At Muan International Airport in southwestern South Korea, killing all but two of the 181 people on board, it caught fire in the country's worst air disaster in decades.
South Korea's acting president, Choi Sang-mok, ordered a state of emergency You feed From the country Boeing 737-800, the type of plane used in the deadly Jeju Airlines flight 7C2216.
The Boeing 737-800 is one of the most widely used aircraft in the world, with a strong safety record. It predates the Boeing 737 Max, the type he was involved with Two fatal accidents In 2018 and 2019, killing all 346 people on board those flights. The plane was a 737 MAX On Earth for about two yearsand the flight control system, which was later modified Involved in both incidents.
The scene where a Jeju Air Boeing 737-800 crashed and caught fire at Muan International Airport in Muan, about 288 kilometers southwest of Seoul on December 30, 2024.
Jung Eun Ji | AFP | Getty Images
There are approximately 4,400 of the older Boeing 737-800 aircraft in operation worldwide, according to aviation data company Cirium. This means that this model constitutes about 17% of the commercial passenger aircraft fleet operating in the world.
The average age of the world's fleet of 737-800s is 13 years, according to Cirium, and the last of the series was delivered about five years ago.
Jeju Air took delivery of the plane involved in this weekend's crash in 2017. It was previously operated by European carrier Ryanair, according to Flightradar24. The plane that crashed was about 15 years old.
Aerospace experts say investigators are unlikely to find a problem with the design of the plane that flies for a long time.
“The idea that they would find a design flaw at this point is unthinkable,” said Richard Aboulafia, managing director of AeroDynamic Advisory, an aviation consulting firm.
A full investigation could take longer than a year, and the unusual incident has raised more questions than answers, such as why the landing gear was not deployed. Even in the event of a hydraulic failure, pilots on the Boeing 737-800 can drop the landing gear manually.
One theory involves a possible bird collision that disabled the engines.
“If it had happened at the altitude they were at, they may not have had enough time to prepare emergency checklists,” said Jeff Guzzetti, a retired air safety investigator with the US National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration. He also said that if the plane had not hit a solid wall at the end of the runway, the accident would have been more survivable.
The NTSB is leading the U.S. team of investigators, which also includes Boeing and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), since the aircraft was manufactured and certified in the United States.
Under international protocols, the country where the accident occurred will undertake a comprehensive investigation.
