Accident investigators are working diligently to determine the cause of the tragic incident involving a Jeju Air flight that crash-landed without its landing gear deployed at Muan International Airport in South Korea. This unfortunate event resulted in the loss of all but two of the 181 individuals on board, marking it as the nation’s worst air disaster in recent decades.
South Korea’s acting President Choi Sang-mok promptly ordered an emergency inspection of the country’s Boeing 737-800 aircraft, the same model as the ill-fated Jeju Air Flight 7C2216. The Boeing 737-800 is widely utilized across the globe and has maintained a solid safety record. Notably, this model predates the Boeing 737 Max, which was involved in two fatal crashes in 2018 and 2019, leading to the grounding of the entire fleet for nearly two years.
With close to 4,400 Boeing 737-800s in operation worldwide, this aircraft type constitutes approximately 17% of the global commercial passenger jet fleet according to aviation-data firm Cirium. The average age of these planes is around 13 years, with the latest deliveries taking place about five years ago.
The specific aircraft involved in the recent crash was acquired by Jeju Air in 2017 and had previously been utilized by European discount carrier Ryanair, as reported by Flightradar24. At the time of the incident, the aircraft was approximately 15 years old.
Despite the tragic circumstances, aerospace experts express skepticism regarding the possibility of identifying a design flaw in this well-established aircraft. Richard Aboulafia, managing director at AeroDynamic Advisory, an aerospace consulting firm, stated, “The idea that they’ll find a design flaw at this point is borderline inconceivable.”
A thorough investigation into the crash is anticipated to extend over a year, given the complexity of the circumstances. Questions surrounding why the landing gear failed to deploy are among the many uncertainties that investigators seek to address. Even in cases of hydraulic malfunction, pilots of Boeing 737-800s have the capability to manually deploy the landing gear.
One hypothesis under consideration involves a potential bird strike that may have compromised the engines. Jeff Guzzetti, a retired air safety investigator with both the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration, speculated, “If that happens at the altitude they were at, they may not have had time to do emergency checklists.” He further noted that had the aircraft not collided with a barrier at the runway’s end, the outcome could have been less devastating.
The investigation is being led by the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), with the support of Boeing and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), as the aircraft involved was manufactured and certified in the United States. According to international protocols, the host country of the accident retains primary responsibility for overseeing the comprehensive investigation.