The Jeju Air crash exposed a variety of safety hazards

The primary cause of the accident was bird strikes, but it also exposed structural problems in the geographical location, facilities and human resources of the Muan Airport. A day after the crash, another Jeju Air Boeing 737-800 made an emergency return due to an abnormal landing gear. The incident has further intensified public concerns about the Boeing 737-800 aircraft. South Korea has designated December 29 to January 4 as the national mourning period for the Jeju Air disaster, and authorities set up a memorial site at the gymnasium of the Muan Comprehensive Sports Park on Monday (30) for the public to mourn the victims. (AFP) The Land Ministry reacted quickly, announcing a full inspection of Boeing 737-800 aircraft. It is understood that at present, a total of six airlines in South Korea operate the same type of aircraft as the accident, a total of 101 aircraft, of which Jeju Air has 39, the largest number. According to the South Korean government, the minimum maintenance time for a Boeing 737-800 is 28 minutes, and the aircraft almost only completes the minimum maintenance requirements before continuing to fly. In addition, the average flight time of Jeju Air is 418 hours per month, the highest in the country. Whether this high-intensity mode of operation affects safety remains to be investigated. According to the analysis, when an aircraft at 370 kilometers per hour collided with a 900-gram mallard, the instant impact was as high as 4.8 tons. This powerful impact is enough to damage the aircraft body, and even cause engine failure or fire, resulting in a major accident. The ministry said two experts from the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board and Boeing each arrived in South Korea late Monday to join the investigation. The joint investigation will start from the evening, focusing on the analysis of part of the damaged black box data, in order to find out the cause of the accident as soon as possible. Experts pointed out that despite the small size of the birds, the damage to the aircraft under high-speed flight conditions cannot be ignored. According to South Korea's SBS TV news reported that the crash passenger plane in the two days before the accident to eight airports, the execution of 13 short-distance flights, only the day before the accident to Malaysia, Japan, Taiwan and Thailand and other four places, the airport stay time of only about an hour. In particular, Muan Beach is only 15 kilometers from the airport and is an important habitat for endangered migratory birds, but bird management is weak. Wu 'an Airport is only equipped with four bird removal personnel, three groups of two shifts can not effectively cope with frequent bird activities. Meanwhile, just a day after the crash, another Jeju Air plane, also a Boeing 737-800, made an emergency return due to abnormal landing gear. Although there were no injuries, the incident further intensified public concerns about the Boeing 737-800 aircraft. According to the Ministry, the Muan Airport tower issued a bird activity warning at 8:57 a.m. Two minutes later, the pilot made three emergency "Mayday" calls and announced "bird strike, bird strike" before deciding to go around. However, during the go-around, there was a breakdown in communication between the pilot and the control tower. Due to communication problems, the plane failed to slow down effectively after landing on the runway and eventually crashed into a concrete structure at the end of the runway. The Ministry of Land and Infrastructure said that the pilot of the crashed airliner sent a "Mayday" signal at 8:59 am on the 29th due to bird strikes, and chose to go around (raise altitude and fly again), which was the only report of bird strikes at that time. In addition, experts pointed out that the Localizer outside the runway and the concrete structure it supports may have exacerbated the accident. Heading pads are used to guide aircraft to precise landings and are usually designed to break easily, but the ones at Muan airport are mounted on 2-meter-high concrete ramps and covered with mounds of earth. Hwang Ho-won, a professor at Korea Aviation University, said that the heading platform should be used as a guidance facility, not too strong, and if the concrete structure is removed, it may reduce the probability of casualties in a collision. South Korea's Jeju Air passenger plane crashes, killing 179 people. South Korea's preliminary investigation results believe that the primary cause of the accident was bird strikes, but it also exposed the structural problems of the Muan Airport in terms of geographical location, facilities and equipment and human resources, which caused widespread concern. South Korea's Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport held a press conference on Monday morning (December 30) to announce the preliminary results of the investigation into South Korea's worst ever air crash.