
Pilots of doomed South Korean plane ‘switched off wrong engine' after flying into birds before crashing and killing 179
The crash at Muan International Airport on December 29
after the plane did an emergency landing,
at the end of the runway, and
.
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
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
They added that various errors by the pilots had led them to land the aircraft too quickly,
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.
Most read in The US Sun
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
Firefighters said two of the six crew members, one man and one woman, survived after being pulled from the tail of the plane.
Read more on the Irish Sun
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
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
5
Jeju Air flight 7C2216 is engulfed in flames as it slams into a wall
Credit: Reuters

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


The Irish Sun
2 days ago
- The Irish Sun
Captain of doomed plane that crashed at Southend Airport and first officer, 24, are pictured as airline pays tribute
THE captain of the plane that crashed at Southend Airport and killed four people has been named and pictured for the first time. The small medical aircraft corkscrewed in the air shortly after taking off from the London airport before 6 Captain Danny Marko Franken has been named and pictured 6 First Officer Floris Christian Rhee also died 6 The Beech B200 was set to travel to the Netherlands Credit: UKNIP 6 The remains of the plane following the crash Credit: Unpixs Now, it has been reported that Captain Danny Franken, 53, and first officer Floris Rhee, 24, were Mr Franken, from Harderwijk, was married with two children and also worked as a first officer for KLM on Boeing 777, according to Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf. He was described by his family in an obituary notice as a "dearest husband, cheerful caring father, wonderful son, brother, son-in-law, brother-in-law and uncle". The other two people onboard the plane - a female nurse and a male doctor - also died in the crash. Read More in UK News The nurse was named in reports as 31-year-old Maria Fernanda Rojaz Ortiz, a German national originally from Chile, and the doctor was named as German national Dr Matthias Eyl, 46. It was also revealed she was on her first day as a 'flight nurse', according to her close friend. The UK was rocked by the tragic air disaster on July 13 after footage showed the Beech B200 Super King Air crashing. The plane was heading for Lelystad in the Netherlands, with an estimated departure time of 3.45pm. Most read in The Sun The plane was returning to its base having transported a patient into the UK for treatment when tragedy struck. Footage showed fire and black smoke billowing into the air from the crash site, while witnesses described seeing the jet "corkscrew" before erupting into a ball of flames. Plane crashes and overturns on runway at UK airport after 'pilot error' as man, 84, and woman, 78, rushed to hospital Southend Airport was closed following the incident so investigations could be carried out, before reopening on July 17. Those inquiries have been ongoing, according to the Air Accident Investigation Branch. The plane was operated by the Netherlands-based Zeusch Aviation. Marco Rietvelt, managing director of Zeusch Aviation, said: "Danny and Floris were not only highly skilled pilots, but also greatly valued and popular members of our team. "Their passion for flying was matched by their dedication to their colleagues and the important missions they carried out. "We are all deeply shocked and saddened by this tragic loss. "Our priority is to support the families of those lost, as well as our employees, during this incredibly difficult time. "We are also fully committed to assisting the authorities in their ongoing investigation." Essex Police said two days after the tragedy on July 15 that three bodies had been recovered from the crash site. The next day, a fourth body was recovered. Cops have been investigating with the airline, airport, Air Accidents Investigation Branch, Royal Air Force and Essex Fire and Rescue Service. Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer previously paid tribute to emergency responders and the four victims, tweeting: "My thoughts are with their families and loved ones." 6 Maria Fernanda Rojaz Ortiz, 31, was previously named as a victim of the deadly plane crash in Southend Credit: Go Fund Me 6 A plume of black smoke rises from an area near the runway after a small plane crash Credit: Reuters


The Irish Sun
5 days ago
- The Irish Sun
How pilots cutting engines sparked TWO plane disasters after South Korea & India crashes as calls for cockpit CCTV grow
PILOTS manually cutting the engines were to blame for the two most deadly air crashes of this decade, investigations suggest. With a total of 420 lives lost in the flick of three buttons, urgent questions are swirling about what can be done to reduce the risk of pilot error or 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 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 tha t the pilot — a move aviation experts say could read more on the air disasters 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. Most read in The US Sun "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. 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; 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. 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. "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 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'. '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. "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."


The Irish Sun
5 days ago
- The Irish Sun
Pilots of doomed South Korean plane ‘switched off wrong engine' after flying into birds before crashing and killing 179
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 after the plane did an emergency landing, at the end of the runway, and . 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 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 They added that various errors by the pilots had led them to land the aircraft too quickly, 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. Most read in The US Sun 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 Firefighters said two of the six crew members, one man and one woman, survived after being pulled from the tail of the plane. Read more on the Irish Sun 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 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 5 Jeju Air flight 7C2216 is engulfed in flames as it slams into a wall Credit: Reuters