'Jeju Hanggong Chamsa' Passenger Plane's Black Box Stopped 1 Minute After Bird Warning

Contact with Flock of Birds Captured on CCTV
Bloodstains Also Found...Common Korean Gadwall Identified

The Jeju Air accident aircraft was found to have its black box recording stopped exactly one minute after receiving a 'bird activity' warning from the Muan International Airport control tower just before the collision. Closed-circuit television (CCTV) footage from the airport confirmed that the pilot of the accident aircraft shouted 'Mayday' (emergency declaration) and made a go-around (increasing altitude without landing) while coming into contact with a flock of birds.

On the afternoon of the 25th, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport's Aviation and Railway Accident Investigation Board (ARAIB) held a briefing for the bereaved families of the accident at Muan International Airport in Jeollanam-do, revealing the current status of the investigation and future plans.

ARAIB synchronized and analyzed the flight data recorder (FDR), cockpit voice recorder (CVR), and air traffic control communication records of the accident aircraft to reconstruct the situation just before the collision, releasing the timeline in seconds.

According to the report, the accident aircraft first communicated with the airport control tower at 8:54:43 a.m. on the 29th of last month for landing approach. The control tower granted landing permission on runway 01, which is the opposite direction of the runway where the accident occurred.

At 8:57:50 a.m., 3 minutes and 7 seconds later, the control tower issued a 'bird activity (collision) caution' to the aircraft. Then, at 8:58:11 a.m., the captain and first officer discussed the presence of birds below the aircraft.

Records from the FDR and CVR simultaneously stopped at 8:58:50 a.m. It is estimated that power supply inside the aircraft was cut off due to the impact of both engines colliding with birds just before this. At that time, the aircraft was flying at a low altitude of 498 feet (about 151 meters) at a speed of 161 knots (approximately 298 km/h).

At 8:58:56 a.m., the pilot declared a Mayday to the control tower due to the bird strike while performing a go-around. Since there was no audio recording, ARAIB estimated the time by synchronizing with control tower records.

Muan Airport CCTV captured footage of the aircraft coming into contact with a flock of birds during the go-around. Although no sparks or smoke were visible in the video, ARAIB explained that the aircraft was confirmed to have collided with multiple birds.

The aircraft then flew over the left side of the runway for about 4 minutes before turning right to land on runway 19, the opposite direction. It performed a belly landing without the landing gear deployed and collided with the azimuth facility (localizer mound) beyond the runway at 9:02:57 a.m.

ARAIB stated, "We are synchronizing and analyzing data such as black box and control communication records by time to identify operational conditions, external influences, and any abnormalities in the aircraft and engines," adding, "Detailed analysis and verification over several months are expected."

Meanwhile, feathers and blood stains found on both engines of the accident aircraft were identified as belonging to the Gadwall, the most common winter migratory bird in Korea. However, the number of birds involved and whether other species were included will need to be confirmed through additional testing.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.