logo
Families of S Korea plane crash victims file complaint against 15 officials

Families of S Korea plane crash victims file complaint against 15 officials

Police and government officials have already been investigating the Jeju Air crash, so the complaint is largely seen as a symbolic step calling for a swifter and more thorough probe
AP Seoul
Families of victims of December's devastating plane crash in South Korea have filed a complaint against 15 people including the transport minister and the airline chief who they believe are responsible for the disaster that killed all but two of the 181 people on board.
Police and government officials have already been investigating the Jeju Air crash, so the complaint is largely seen as a symbolic step calling for a swifter and more thorough probe. Many bereaved families complain of what they see as a lack of meaningful progress in efforts to determine what caused the disaster and who is responsible.
On Tuesday, 72 bereaved relatives submitted the complaint to the Jeonnam Provincial Police agency in southern South Korea, according to their lawyers and police.
The 15 people cited in the complaint include the transport minister, Jeju Air's president and airline officials handling maintenance and safety issues, along with officials at Muan International Airport who are responsible for preventing bird strikes, air traffic control and facility management, according to a statement from a lawyers' group supporting the relatives.
Four months after the disaster, we can't help feeling deep anger and despair over the fact that there has been little progress in the investigation, Kim Dae-hye, a bereaved family member, said in the statement.
Lawyer Lee So-Ah said Wednesday the complaint would formally require police to brief bereaved families of their investigation, though police have so far only voluntarily done so.
The Boeing 737-800 operated by Jeju Air skidded off the runaway at the Muan airport on December 29 after its landing gear failed to deploy, slamming into a concrete structure and bursting into flames.
Authorities have since said they found traces of bird strike in the plane's engines and that the plane's two black boxes stopped recording about four minutes before the crash. Many analysts said the concrete structure, which housed a set of antennas called a localiser that guides aircraft during landings, should have been built with lighter materials that could break more easily upon impact.
But no exact cause of the crash has been announced and no one has been legally persecuted yet over the crash, the country's deadliest aviation disaster since 1997.
Jeonnam Provincial Police agency officials said they've been investigating the accident. They suggested a complex incident like the Jeju Air crash would require a lengthy investigation but declined to say when they expect to wrap up their probe.
(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Air India Group completes fuel control switch checks on Boeing planes
Air India Group completes fuel control switch checks on Boeing planes

Business Standard

timea day ago

  • Business Standard

Air India Group completes fuel control switch checks on Boeing planes

Air India and its low-cost subsidiary, Air India Express, have completed precautionary inspections of the locking mechanism of fuel control switches on all Boeing 787 and 737 aircraft in their fleets, complying with a directive issued by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on July 14. The DGCA's directive followed the preliminary report issued on July 12 by the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) into the June 12 crash of Air India flight AI171, which killed 260 people. The report found that both engine fuel control switches on the Boeing 787 had transitioned from "Run" to "Cutoff" just seconds after takeoff from Ahmedabad, resulting in a dual engine failure. The cockpit voice recorder captured one pilot asking the other why the fuel was cut off, to which the other replied that he had not done it. A Mayday call was made shortly before the aircraft crashed into a building near the airport. In a statement issued on Tuesday, Air India said, 'Air India has completed precautionary inspections on the locking mechanism of the Fuel Control Switch (FCS) on all Boeing 787 and Boeing 737 aircraft in its fleet.' 'No issues were found with the said locking mechanism,' the airline said, adding that it had started voluntary inspections on July 12 and completed them within the prescribed time limit set by the DGCA. The airline has formally communicated this to the regulator. Although the exact cause of the switch movement on AI171 remains undetermined, the incident led the DGCA to issue a mandatory inspection order on July 14. The DGCA's order referenced a 2018 Special Airworthiness Information Bulletin (SAIB) from the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). That FAA bulletin had warned of the possibility that Honeywell-manufactured fuel control switches on certain Boeing aircraft — including the 737 and 787 — might be installed in a way that disables their locking mechanism, which is meant to prevent accidental switch movement from "Run" to "Cutoff." However, the FAA did not issue any fresh directive after the AI171 crash, and the 2018 SAIB remains advisory. The UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has also stated that there is no need for any action by Boeing. Meanwhile, some foreign carriers, such as Singapore Airlines and Etihad Airways, conducted precautionary checks of their own accord. The DGCA's July 14 order required Indian operators of affected Boeing aircraft to complete inspections by July 21 and report back. Boeing 777s are exempt from the order as they do not use the switches under scrutiny. The DGCA order applied to Boeing fleets across five Indian carriers: Air India, Air India Express, IndiGo, SpiceJet, and Akasa Air.

Jeju Air Pilots' Union "Strongly Angered", Reject Plane Crash Blame On Pilots
Jeju Air Pilots' Union "Strongly Angered", Reject Plane Crash Blame On Pilots

NDTV

timea day ago

  • NDTV

Jeju Air Pilots' Union "Strongly Angered", Reject Plane Crash Blame On Pilots

South Korea: The families of victims of South Korea's deadliest plane crash on home soil have denounced a government report which blamed the disaster on pilot error, a representative told AFP Tuesday. The Boeing 737-800 was flying from Thailand to South Korea's southwest on December 29 last year but ended up belly-landing at Muan airport and exploding in a fireball after slamming into a concrete barrier, killing 179 people. South Korea's land ministry told AFP it had planned to release the partial findings of the investigation into the crash at the weekend but called off a briefing and withheld the report after the families objected, claiming it could be misleading. The report said a bird strike damaged the plane's right engine but the pilot then mistakenly shut down the left engine instead, a representative for the families, who saw the report, told AFP. The error resulted in a total power loss and a failure of the landing gear system, they said. The pilot said: "Let's shut down engine number 2 (the right engine)," but the flight data recorder showed that actually it was the left engine that was shut down, according to the report. "No one has directly seen or heard the cockpit voice recorder or the flight data recorder," Kim Youn-mi, a representative of the victims' families, told AFP. "We weren't given any proper explanation about those things. We need to hear that to know. We have the right," she added. The Jeju Air pilots' union also criticised the report, saying it was "strongly angered" by the findings and would "firmly reject the malicious attempt to shift blame onto the pilot". The findings were part of an ongoing probe by South Korean and US investigators, who are still investigating the cause of the disaster. A bird strike -- feathers and bloodstains were found in both engines -- a faulty landing gear and the runway barrier are among the possible issues. The final report is planned to be released in June next year.

Jeju Air pilots shut off less-damaged engine before crash: Report
Jeju Air pilots shut off less-damaged engine before crash: Report

Business Standard

time2 days ago

  • Business Standard

Jeju Air pilots shut off less-damaged engine before crash: Report

A government source said examinations of the plane's recovered engines found that no defects had been present before the bird strike and crash Reuters The South Korea-led investigation into Jeju Air's fatal plane crash in December has "clear evidence" that pilots shut off the less-damaged engine after a bird strike, a source with knowledge of the probe said on Monday. The source said the evidence, including the cockpit voice recorder, computer data and a physical engine switch found in the wreckage showed pilots shut off the left engine instead of the right engine when taking emergency steps after a bird strike just before it was scheduled to land. "The investigation team has clear evidence and backup data, so its finding will not change," the source told Reuters on condition of anonymity because investigators have not released an official report including this evidence. A government source said examinations of the plane's recovered engines found that no defects had been present before the bird strike and crash. The December 29 crash of the Boeing 737-800 jet at Muan Airport killed all but two of the 181 passengers and crew members on board and was the deadliest air disaster on South Korean soil. Investigators told victims' family members at a briefing on Saturday that the right engine had been more severely damaged by a bird strike than the left, and there was circumstantial evidence that pilots had turned off the less-damaged left engine, according to a third source who was at the briefing. South Korean media outlets including MBN and Yonhap reported that information on Saturday and Sunday. South Korea's Aviation and Railway Accident Investigation Board (ARAIB), which is leading the investigation, did not respond immediately to a request for comment. Boeing referred questions about the crash to ARAIB. Engine maker CFM International, a joint venture between GE and France's Safran, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Jeju Air said it was actively cooperating with the ARAIB's investigation and awaiting the official announcement of the results. Most air crashes are caused by multiple factors, and under international rules, a final report is expected within a year of an accident. A preliminary report released in January said duck remains were found in both engines of the Jeju Air plane after the flight from Bangkok crashed at Muan Airport, but did not give details about the extent of remains or damage found in each engine. OBJECTIONS FROM VICTIMS' FAMILIES South Korea's investigation body on Saturday cancelled a planned release to media of an update on what is known so far about the engines. Families of the crash victims were briefed on the report ahead of its planned release, but objected to its publication, saying that it appeared to apportion blame to the pilots without exploring other contributing factors, lawyers representing the families said. The Jeju Air flight overshot Muan Airport's runway as it made an emergency belly landing and crashed into an embankment containing navigation equipment, leading to a fire and partial explosion. Representatives of victims' families and the Jeju Air pilots' union said over the weekend that the investigation needs to also focus on the embankment, which aviation experts have said likely contributed to the high death toll. The union accused the ARAIB of trying to make pilots "scapegoats" by failing to provide scientific and technological grounds that the plane could have landed safely with only the left engine turned on. Air accidents are complex incidents that occur due to a number of contributing factors, and investigators have not produced evidence so far to support the implication that the accident was a result of pilot error, the union said. Investigators are so far "silent about organisational responsibility", the union said. A body representing bereaved families said in a statement there were some phrases related to the cause of the accident in the planned press release that could be interpreted as if a final conclusion had been reached, and all facts surrounding the incident must be clarified.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store