Fighter jet misfire casualty number rises to 29, South Korea says
The casualties include 15 civilians and 14 military personnel, the ministry said. Seven civilians and two soldiers remain hospitalized, including two civilians classified as seriously injured, while 20 other people have been treated and discharged, the ministry said.
The accident occurred on Thursday during military training in Pocheon, a northeastern city of about 140,000 people near the heavily fortified border with North Korea. U.S. and South Korean forces were conducting a live-fire drill in preparation for Freedom Shield, an annual U.S.-South Korea joint military exercise that is set to get underway Monday.
A total of eight 500-pound MK-82 bombs were 'abnormally released' by two South Korean air force KF-16s, landing outside the designated firing range.
While the Freedom Shield exercise is going ahead as planned, Col. Ryan Donald, spokesperson for U.S. Forces Korea (USFK), said Friday that the U.S. and South Korean militaries had agreed to pause all live-fire training until further notice.
USFK said earlier that no U.S. Air Force aircraft participated in the exercise.
South Korea, a U.S. treaty ally, hosts almost 30,000 U.S. service members. The Freedom Shield exercise, which runs from March 10 to 20, is designed to strengthen the alliance's combined defense posture in the face of growing threats from nuclear-armed North Korea.
North Korea criticized the Freedom Shield exercise on Friday, saying it would worsen the situation on the Korean Peninsula and violate its "sovereignty, security and interests.'
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Scottish Sun
6 days ago
- Scottish Sun
How pilots cutting engines sparked TWO plane disasters after South Korea & India crashes as calls for cockpit CCTV grow
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Advertisement 8 The wreckage of a Jeju Air Boeing 737-800 which crashed and burned at Muan International Airport in South Korea in December Credit: AFP 8 Some 179 people were killed in the disaster Credit: AFP 8 An Air India plane smashed down into a built-up are in June, and killed all but one of the 242 people on board Credit: Alamy 8 Former airline pilot Terry Tozer explained what could have contributed to the pilots' actions Credit: Channel 5 News The Jeju Air emergency-landing crash killed 179 people in December, and 241 people died when the Air India plane came down shortly after takeoff in June. Investigators have sensationally revealed there is "clear evidence" that the Jeju Air pilots mistakenly shut down the wrong engine after a bird strike. The plane was then forced to make an emergency landing at Muan International Airport on December 29, where it slammed into a concrete wall and burst into a fireball. Meanwhile, the leading theory in the Air India crash is that the pilot manually flipped both guarded fuel switches to the 'cut-off' position — a move aviation experts say could only have been deliberate. Advertisement read more on the air disasters CRASH DISASTER Pilots of doomed South Korean plane 'switched off wrong engine', killing 179 A report from the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau of India (AAIB) revealed a recording of the panicked co-pilot asking which the main pilot shut off the engines. Terry Tozer, former airline pilot and author of "Confessions of an Airline Pilot – Why Planes Crash", told The Sun that it would have been be possible for the Air India pilot to shut off the engines without the other noticing. In the cockpit were Captain Sumeet Sabharwal and First Officer Clive Kunder. Terry said: "The handling pilot, which we know was the First Officer, would have had his hands full. Advertisement "He would have had his hands on the controls, but the monitoring pilot [Sumeet] would have his hands free." What caused fireball South Korea plane crash as 179 confirmed dead in horror explosion "There is absolutely no procedure or logical reason why you would shut the engines off just after takeoff. That's so blindingly obvious that it doesn't need to be stated. "So either it happened by accident, which I think a lot of people find extremely hard to believe or it was done deliberately." Terry said that the switches are "latched", meaning you have to lift them up before you can move them. Advertisement Despite the safety mechanism, Terry said it would 'probably' have been possible for one pilot to shut down the engines without the monitoring pilot noticing, because the switches "would be kind of behind his natural line of sight". The experience pilot also called on investigators to release a key piece of evidence that could clear up what happened in India. 8 Captain Sumeet Sabharwal is thought to have switched both the engines off shortly after take off A cockpit view of a Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft shows the fuel switch; Advertisement 8 Brit Vishwas Ramesh was the only survivor of the Air India disaster Credit: Dan Charity He explained the area microphone on the cockpit voice recorder would have picked up the sound of the switches being flicked. Terry said: 'So it would have been helpful if the investigators had said whether or not they were able to tell whether a switch type sound was detectable around about the time that they think the switches might have been switched off.' Speaking about the Jeju crash, Terry said the pilots "obviously" shut down the wrong engine by "mistake" - but revealed they would have been contending with a chaos in the cockpit. Advertisement He said: 'They probably would have had all kinds of bells and whistles going off and lots of indications that both engines were in trouble.' The former pilot said "takes time to analyze whether or not you should shut down one or neither or both" - but this was time the Jeju pilots did not have. He also said the new revelations about those crucial moments had been revealed in a "very odd manner". Terry said: "I understand that it was released to the relatives of the victims and in private, prior to release to the general public. Advertisement "And then that causes riots and chaos." 8 A family member of a victim of the Jeju air crash mourns at the site Credit: EPA 8 An engine of the Jeju Air passenger plane wreckage is salvaged days after the crash Credit: EPA Advertisement However, Terry said that whatever happened in the two cockpits, there is one factor that determines passengers' fate above all else. He said the 'single most important thing' in passenger safety is the "airline culture". Terry explained: 'If it is a disciplined professional safety culture with a good training regime, then that makes a huge difference.' Terry recalled a similar occasion when the wrong engine was shut down - the Kegworth air disaster of 1989 - and said that was "definitely a cultural problem in the training department'. Advertisement 'That may have been a factor with Jeju Air,' he said. In the wake of the two tragedies, many aviation figures have called for he introduction of cockpit CCTV. That would clear up immediately how the two engines came to be shut off on the Air India flight - but Terry said pilots would push back. He said: 'I can see why the investigators might welcome cockpit CCTV. Advertisement "We should be doing everything we can to minimize crashes. 'And in any responsible environment, with a good airline and a regulatory environment that is already happening. "And obviously, if there was a video evidence of what went on on the cockpit. They would know the answers pretty clearly by now. "But it's something that I think pilots would resist, for the simple reason that they're already scrutinized, trained, checked, examined, monitored, regulated so much."
Scottish Sun
7 days ago
- Scottish Sun
Airline pilot forced to pull off ‘aggressive' move to avoid catastrophic midair collision with Air Force B-52 bomber
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Scottish Sun
20-07-2025
- Scottish Sun
Pilots of doomed South Korean plane ‘switched off wrong engine' after flying into birds before crashing and killing 179
Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) THE pilots of the doomed South Korean plane appeared to switch off the wrong engine after flying into birds before crashing. The crash at Muan International Airport on December 29 killed 179 people after the plane did an emergency landing, hit a concrete slab at the end of the runway, and exploded into a fireball. 5 Black smoke and flames pouring from the wreckage after it smashed into a concrete slab at the end of the runway 5 The plane landed on its belly and careered off before being stopped dead in its tracks by concrete Credit: UKNIP 5 The aircraft carrying 181 people crashed in December Credit: Unpixs Officials took back copies of the interim findings from reporters after grieving relatives of victims killed in the crash disrupted a news conference of Saturday. They accused them of prematurely blaming the pilots for the devastating crash. Prior to the media event, investigators told relatives and their representatives that they had concluded that there was no engine defect on the plane. They added that various errors by the pilots had led them to land the aircraft too quickly, without the wheels being down. Preliminary findings confirmed the conclusions that aviation experts had reached from the plane's final path, as well as horror video footage captured from the fatal crash. In the final four minutes of the doomed flight, power to the aircraft's flight recorders was cut off - initially obstructing the investigation. After going into the flock of birds, one of the engines failed - while the other continued to produce a bit of power. Investigators revealed: "A pilot may have mistakenly turned off the engine. While an official told South Korea's MBN TV news: "The pilot should have turned off the right engine, which was severely damaged by the bird strike, but he turned off the left engine, which was spinning, and the black box and power went out." The pilots then ignored standard procedure for continuing of landing after a bird strike on approach. Terrifying moment Boeing passenger plane catches FIRE after take off with flames erupting from the engine They are said to have climbed back up before performing unorthodox manoeuvres and turning to make a rushed landing in the opposite direction - on the same runway. As the heartbroken families of victims entered the media briefing, officials were quick to take copies of the report back from reporters, explaining how it hadn't been officially issued. A man was heard shouting: "They've just blamed it all on the pilots." Head of the relatives' group Kim Yu-jin slammed the report as being unsatisfactory. She said: "When investigators take a position, it should be accompanied by documents that support their position and convince the bereaved family that their conclusions are inevitable. "We were only given their conclusions. "We have repeatedly asked them to be careful about these disclosures because the way that the results of the investigation are communicated can have an impact on the compensation that families receive." The packed jet - Jeju Air Flight 7C2216 - was carrying 181 people from Bangkok, Thailand. Firefighters said two of the six crew members, one man and one woman, survived after being pulled from the tail of the plane. The 33-year-old man suffered multiple fractures and is receiving special care following the disaster. He reportedly told doctors that he had already been rescued when he woke up, Yonhap said. Timeline of the Muan plane disaster By James Halpin, foreign news reporter SOUTH Korea has suffered its deadliest air disaster in two decades as a jet carrying 181 went down with only two survivors. 4.29am - Jeju Air flight 7C 2216 leaves Bangkok carrying tourists coming home from package holidays in Thailand. 8.57am - Pilot receives bird strike warning on approach to Muan International Airport. 8.58am - Pilot issues a mayday call - and witnesses report hearing an "explosion" overheard as video shows an apparent bird strike. 9.00am - Plane aborts first landing attempt on Runway 01. 9.03am - The jet then attempts a second landing on Runway 19 on its belly - and crashes in a fireball. 5 A firefighter works near a wrecked landing gear (R) at the scene where a Jeju Air Boeing 737-800 series aircraft crashed Credit: AFP
