At 9:03 AM on December 29th, a Boeing 737 crashed into a wall while landing at Muan International Airport (MWX) in Muan, South Jeolla Province in South Korea. The flight was 7C2216 operated by Jeju Air.
There were 175 passengers and 6 crew members on board, however only 2 people (both crew members, a male and a female) were rescued, while all other 179 people (175 passengers and 4 crew members) lost their lives. Families of victims are currently gathered at Muan International Airport for identification of victims and for other processes.
Flight Details
Jeju Air Flight 2216 (7C 2216) was a scheduled flight between Muan International Airport (MWX) in South Korea and Bangkok Suvarnabhumi International Airport (BKK). The flight was operated with a 15-year-old Boeing 737-800 registered as HL8088. It was first delivered to Ryanair and was flown by the European LCC until November 2016, and delivered to Jeju Air on February 10th, 2017.
The aircraft was involved in a diversion two days before the crash, while flying from Jeju International Airport (CJU) to Beijing Daxing International Airport (PKX) as Flight 7C 8135. The aircraft diverted to and made an emergency landing at Incheon International Airport (ICN) due to a medical emergency onboard.
Flight 2216 departed Bangkok at 2:29AM local time. The flight was uneventful until approach to Muan, when the flight crew started experiencing issues with the landing gear not deploying.
Some reports say that the aircraft initiated a go-around, and a video of the airliner suffering a bird strike near the airport has been circulating online. At the time of writing, it is not known whether the aircraft suffered a bird strike on approach or while going around, or whether the aircraft actually did go-around in the first place. FlightRadar24 tracking stopped at around 8:59 AM, 4 minutes before the reported incident happening.
The aircraft attempted to land at Muan at 9:03 AM without its landing gear deployed. While the aircraft did make contact with the runway on a straight course, it was too fast to come to a complete stop, which caused it to overrun the runway and crash into the perimeter fence, then a wall at the end of the runway.
The plane exploded and burst into flames. Video of the aircraft in its final moments shows the reverse thrust deployed, but the flaps and speed brakes cannot be seen configured for a normal landing.
Rescue Operations
The fire department at the airport immediately responded to the crash, attempting to rescue survivors. Initial reports state that at least two crew members were rescued from the scene at the tail section of the aircraft. Unfortunately, it is now reported that all 175 passengers (173 Koreans and 2 Thais) and 4 crew members were confirmed to have lost their lives in the crash.
Choi Sang-mok, the current acting President of the Republic of Korea, ordered all equipment and personnel to be put into the rescue operations. The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport sent Aviation and Railway Accident Investigation Board members to Muan International Airport for investigation. The police declared "Gap ho Emergency (갑호비상)", which allows all personnel on leave to be summoned and 100% of police forces to be available. Other departments and ministries are working hard to minimize the casualties and damages caused by the crash.
This marks the first time in 22 years that a passenger casualty occurred in South Korea since the crash of Air China Flight 129, which crashed into a hill near Gimhae International Airport in Busan on April 15th, 2002. This is also the first fatal incident for Jeju Air since its first operations on June 5th, 2006.
Bomb Threat Cancels Air New Zealand Flight, Delays Passengers » Passengers Encounter Bedbug Infestation on Multiple Turkish Airlines Flights » Could You Survive a Plane Crash? The Unlikely Science of Plane Crash Survival »
Comments (2)
Nalliah Thayabharan
Birds struck the plane mid-flight may have caused the malfunction with the landing gear.
The aircraft involved was manufactured in 2009 and powered by two CFM56 turbofan engines. It made its maiden flight on August 19, 2009 and was delivered new to Ryanair. Since 2017, the aircraft has been operated by Jeju Air.
On December 27, 2024, two days before the accident, the aircraft diverted to Incheon International Airport while operating Jeju Air flight 8135 to Beijing Daxing International Airport originating from Jeju International Airport. The aircraft was in cruising flight transiting the Yellow Sea at FL320 when flight crew declared an emergency. A descent and diversion to Searle Incheon International Airport (ICN) was then carried out. Flight crew squawked emergency transponder code 7700, declaring an emergency when established on the descent on track to the diversion airport.
Jeju Air is the largest low-cost carrier in South Korea.
Muan’s runway is just over 9,000 feet long, so it’s not short. Details about why the jet landed without gear, and why it was still at such a high speed at the end of the runway, remain to be seen.
Nalliah Thayabharan
At 8:54 am the Boeing 737-800NG operating the Jeju Air Flight 2216 was authorized to land at Muan International Airport in South Korea. As the plane was preparing to land, it was warned at 8:57 am about the potential for a bird strike. A minute later, it issued a mayday alert.At 9:00 a.m, the plane attempted an emergency landing, being forced to go around again after the landing gear was not deployed. A minute later, it received authorization to attempt a landing from the opposite direction. Most pilots are trained for situations like this.
The crash occurred as the aircraft attempted to perform a belly landing,touching down 1,200m along the runway, sliding down the runway on the engine nacelles with a sustained nose-high attitude. It continued 250m past the runway threshold before colliding with an embankment holding the ILS array and exploding.
If they were in a stabilised approach the landing gear would be down WAY before the bird strike zone. The Boeing 737-800NG did a go-around with no problems.
Then nothing like this has ever happened, a plane comes in without landing gear, speed close to take off and on at least at 50% power until it contacted an object on the ground - Pilots missed alternate landing gear extension, alternate flap extension, approach and landing speed judgement, diversion, not correctly configure the aircraft for landing, way too fast, way too far down the runway before touchdown, 15-degree nose-up. Either a complete loss of throttle control or the pilots tried to climb out and it was too late.
We have seen pilots ignore repeated alarms in the cockpit, warnings from the GPWS many times including PIA8303 and Air France 447. This is more than likely another example of a crew doing everything other than what they should have been doing.
There are 3 hydraulic systems aboard the 737 - system A, B and Stand by. The A system powers the landing gear for retraction, extension, and nose wheel steering. The B system powers the flaps and leading edge devices, with an electric backup that can extend and retract the flaps. All have redundancy but a complete failure of all 3 hydraulic systems and the backup electrical system to operate the flaps is damn near impossible.
APU can provide electrical power to the electric motor driven pumps (EMDP's) and thus supply hydraulic pressure. One of the amazing things that Captain Sullenberger did, when they first hit the birds on takeoff was immediately start the APU, before he did anything else, as I guess he knew he might lose both engine power from the birds.
Hydraulics not required for emergency use of flaps and landing gear on 737. Pilots should be able to manually drop the landing gear no matter what. Landing gear can be manually extended with the 3 red handles-Right Main, Nose and Left Main-behind crew seats on the floor, physically connected to each strut that when pulled releases the gear which falls and locks into place by their own weight and wind drag. On Boeing 737-800 NG, the manual extension handles will function with the landing gear lever in any position.
However it does take time. Crew only gave themselves 7 minutes to execute check lists and final between loss of signal on initial approach and attempted go around.
There’s really no explanation for the gear being retracted other than the pilot forgot. The Control Tower should have informed them that their landing gear was not down though. The aircraft won’t even allow use of thrust reversers unless you have main gear strut compression, in this case with the gear still retracted there may not be any thrust reversers nor spoilers available.
The lack of ADS-B during the final landing implies a complete loss of power.
The aviation industry is built on redundancy and there are very few single-point failures in airplane design or airplane operations A combination of unlucky factors including ongoing mechanical issues, a bird strike, and poor crew resource management caused this crash. Also it appears the airport was expecting an emergency landing.
MWX runway 19 has a Landing Distance 2800m. The end of Runway 19 is about 6 m below its threshold. The embankment is to raise the localizer array, to compensate for the runway slope. However, within the United States and Canada these would be required to be mounted on frangible support structures. You want the support structure to break-away and cause as minimal damage as possible in a scenario like this. You would not be allowed to construct an earth mound like this within the runway overruns. This localizer is about 150m off the overrun, which would violate North American Airfield criteria, but it's a Korean Airport so regulations are different.
My guessing
Birdstrike with severe damage on the right engine and crew incorrectly shuts down the left engine, losing both engines.
Immediate turn back to land tailwind opposite direction.
Split decisions, forgot the landing gear.
The plane wasn't ready for that belly landing at all.
Add Your Comment
SHARE
TAGS
NEWS Jeju Air Boeing737r unway overrun Korea South Korea JejuRECENTLY PUBLISHED
Could You Survive a Plane Crash? The Unlikely Science of Plane Crash Survival
With air travel consistently being heralded as the safest form of public transport, most of us do not board a plane pondering our chances of survival in the event of a crash. But, is it possible to survive one?
INFORMATIONAL
READ MORE »
Maldivian Airlines Introduces First-Ever Widebody Aircraft, Plans New China Flights
Maldivian, the government-owned national airline of the Maldives, has just welcomed its first-ever wide body aircraft: the Airbus A330-200. With the new aircraft, the carrier also plans brand-new long haul international flights to China.
NEWS
READ MORE »
Thousands of Flights Impacted as Winter Storm Blair Hits U.S.
Winter Storm Blair has unleashed a huge blast of snow, ice, and freezing temperatures across the Central and Eastern United States.
As of Sunday afternoon, over 6,700 flights and counting have been disrupted. This includes cancelations and significant delays leaving passengers scrambling to change flights and adjust travel plans.
NEWS
READ MORE »
