The Jeju Air Boeing 737 disaster in Muan, South Korea, and its possible causes

Just four days after the downing of an Azerbaijan Airlines plane, civil aviation suffers a new disaster, this time in South Korea.

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According to Flightradar24, a Boeing 737-800 of Jeju Air, a South Korean low-cost airline, took off at 20:29 CET (2:29 local time) from Bangkok, Thailand, bound for Muan, South Korea, about 288 kilometers from Seoul. The plane had a civil registration of HL8088 and had flown with Ryanair between 2009 and 2016. Jeju Air Flight 2216 began its approach to Muan 4 hours and 30 minutes after takeoff. "The last ADS-B message received from the aircraft occurred at 23:58:50 UTC with the aircraft located at 34.95966, 126.38426 at an altitude of 500 feet approaching Runway 1 at Muan," Flightradar24 notes, adding:

"There are multiple possible possible explanations for why an aircraft would stop sending ADS-B messages, including loss of electrical power to the transponder, a wider electrical failure, or pilot action on the flight deck."

The plane was flying with 175 passengers and six crew on board. Flightradar 24 reports that the plane "attempted a gear-up landing" but the aircraft "slid off the end of the runway and impacted an embankment and lighting array, breaking into multiple pieces. Initial reports indicate dozens of casualties and at least two survivors, but rescue efforts are ongoing." Breaking Aviation News & Videos has published this video of the plane's final moments before it was destroyed while attempting to land at Muan:

Jeju Air flight 7C 2216 from Bangkok was carrying 175 passengers and six crew when disaster struck at the airport in Muan county, just after 9 a.m. local time Sunday (7 p.m. ET Saturday).

Footage of Sunday’s crash broadcast by multiple South Korean news outlets showed the plane… pic.twitter.com/rc7AxNSYyp

— Breaking Aviation News & Videos (@aviationbrk) December 29, 2024

The South Korean news agency Yonhap said the accident occurred at 9:07 am (local time, 1:07 am CET), and said authorities are conducting "an investigation on the site to determine the exact cause of the crash." At 6:36 pm local time (10:37 UTC), Yonhap announced that there were 176 dead and 3 missing.

Minutes earlier, Yonhap reported: "An airport control tower had warned of a bird strike just six minutes before a Jeju Air passenger jet carrying 181 people crashed in South Korea's southwestern county of Muan, the transport ministry said Sunday." The South Korean agency adds the following:

According to a press briefing of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, which oversees aviation safety, the control tower issued the warning at 8:57 a.m.

The pilot of the aircraft immediately declared mayday at 8:58 a.m. and attempted to land at 9 a.m. but crashed three minutes later at 9:03 a.m. while landing without its landing gear deployed, it said.

"While attempting to land on runway No. 1, the control tower issued a bird strike warning and the pilot declared mayday shortly after," the ministry said.

Officials said the control tower granted clearance to land in the opposite direction on the runway, after which the pilot attempted a landing until it overshot the runway and hit the wall.

Yonhap noted that Korea Airports Corporation (KAC), the state-owned company in charge of managing airports in South Korea has reported 10 incidents of bird strikes from 2019 to August this year: "Per KAC, the 14 international and domestic airports it operates have seen an uptick in bird strikes in recent years, from 76 in 2020 to 109 in 2021, and then to 131 in 2022 and 152 in 2023. Airports have used acoustic deterrents and other measures to keep birds away, KAC added."

Breaking Aviation News & Videos has posted these three photos of the destroyed aircraft:

At 08:44 CET, the same source published this other video recorded by witnesses in which we see smoke coming out of the starboard engine, images that are consistent with the possibility that the plane collided with a flock of birds and one of them entered the engine. Given the altitude of the plane, the video was probably recorded during the approach to Muan:

While there were a total of 181 people onboard Jeju Air Flight 2216, rescue authorities suspect almost all others, except for two people rescued, were also killed in the crash.

According to fire department officials, 173 Korean and two Thai passengers as well as six crew members… pic.twitter.com/UxDmkrpQOj

— Breaking Aviation News & Videos (@aviationbrk) December 29, 2024

My prayers for the deceased and my condolences to their families. Rest in peace.

+ UPDATED 12:02h: Yonhap reports 177 dead, 2 missing and 2 rescued. The two people rescued are crew members. On board the plane were 82 men and 93 women, ranging in age from three to 78. Many were between 40 and 60 years old. Most of the passengers were Korean, except for two Thais. The two survivors were treated at separate hospitals in Mokpo and have now been transferred to Seoul. "Their injuries were not life-threatening.", Yonhap says. The South Korean agency added:

"Officials believe the landing gear failure, possibly due to a bird strike, may have caused the accident. They began an on-site investigation to determine the exact cause."

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Main photo via Breaking Aviation News & Videos.