Removal of Concrete Embankment Linked to Fatal South Korea Air Crash Planned
The crash killed 179 people, with only two crew members who were seated near the rear of the Boeing 737-800 aircraft making it out alive.
Investigators are still trying to determine the cause of the Dec. 27, 2024, Jeju Air disaster, which killed 179 people, but experts have said the vast bulwark that supported navigation antennas at the end of the runway likely made the disaster more deadly than it may otherwise have been.
In some of the first reforms announced since the catastrophe, authorities said they will be constructing new foundations or other adjustments for similar antennas at Muan International Airport and six others across South Korea that are either below ground level or easy to break.
The decision was made after a review of the structures housing the antennas that guide planes in for landings at airports across the South East Asian country known as Instrument Landing Systems, or a “localizer.”
Muan International Airport plans to completely remove the existing concrete and reinstall the localizer “in a fragile structure,” the ministry said in a statement.
The Dec. 29 crash was the worst air crash ever on South Korean soil, with only two crew members who were seated near the rear of the Boeing 737-800 aircraft surviving the smash.
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Footage showed that the plane collided with the embankment and burst into flames after hitting the runway at high speed without landing gear deployed and skidding beyond the end of the runway.
The runway design has also been criticized as failing to meet safety standards, prompting authorities to extend post-runway safety zones that are free of major obstacles.
The transport ministry has since said it will ensure a 787-foot-long runway safety area at all airports to meet all relevant regulations.
The area at Muan airport was about 650 feet long at the time of the crash, according to officials.
Police said separately that Son Chang-wan, the former president of the state-run Korea Airports Corporation who was in office when the structure at Muan airport was renovated, was found dead at his home on Jan. 21 of an apparent suicide.
Son was not under investigation over the plane crash and had not been summoned for questioning over it, a police official said.
After analyzing the devices, the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board concluded that both the flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder failed about four minutes before the crash, the South Korean Transportation Ministry said on Jan.11.
South Korean investigators have also said that air traffic controllers warned the pilot about possible bird strikes two minutes before the aircraft issued a distress signal confirming that a bird strike had occurred, after which the pilot attempted an emergency landing.
As investigations continue, the shutdown of Muan Airport has been extended until April 18, the transport ministry said on Jan. 18.
It had originally been slated to reopen on Jan. 7 before being pushed back to Jan. 14 and then Jan. 19 before the decision was made to keep the airport shut until spring.
Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
