Latest news with #Jeju Air
South China Morning Post
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- South China Morning Post
Dancing Jeju Air crew stir backlash in South Korea: ‘the funerals were recent'
A video of dancing crew members from South Korean airline Jeju Air has led to online criticisms of tone deafness, with social media users noting that it is too soon for such lighthearted clips after the crash that killed 179 people in December. The 10-second video, titled 'Feisty Flight Attendants' and uploaded on the airline's official social media channel on July 11, showed three smiling crew members dancing, jumping and flashing V-signs. By Tuesday afternoon, it had garnered 2.2 million views and more than 200,000 likes. However, not everybody was impressed. 'How long has it been since the Muan accident?' one user asked, according to Seoul Economic Daily newspaper. 'It's only been half a year since the accident, so we need at least a year of mourning.' On December 29, Jeju Air Flight 2216 issued a mayday before attempting to land on its belly at Muan Airport. It overran the runway at high speed and struck a concrete-reinforced berm , killing all but two of the 181 people on board. It was the deadliest air disaster on South Korean soil. 'It took a long time to recover the bodies and confirm their identities. The funerals were recent. Wouldn't it be upsetting to see this if it were your family?' another user said, according to Korea JoongAng Daily newspaper. Others, however, defended the crew members in the clip, saying they did nothing wrong. 'Did the flight attendants or first officer cause the accident?' one asked.
ABC News
2 days ago
- ABC News
Families of victims upset with findings of report into South Korea's Jeju Air plane crash
An investigation into a South Korean plane crash that killed 179 people has found "clear evidence" that the pilots shut off the engine, but families of the victims say they don't trust the report. The Jeju Air flight crash-landed at Muan International Airport on December 29, 2024, skidding along the runway before hitting a wall and exploding. Families of the crash victims said they did not accept the investigation's findings. They have raised questions about the transparency of the report, which they said concluded the crash was an error on the part of the pilots. The findings of the report have now been hushed, and its release date has been delayed. Lawyers representing the families have objected to the publication of the report and said investigators needed to look at other contributing factors, in addition to the bird strike. As a result, a planned press briefing was cancelled and the release of the report was postponed, according to The Korea Times. Groups representing the victims' families and the Jeju Air pilots' union said the media release could not be trusted and hoped investigators would include their views, too. South Korea's Aviation and Railway Accident Investigation Board (ARAIB) has been accused by the union of "misleading the public" by suggesting there was no problem with the left engine, given traces of bird remains were found in both engines. The union also 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. On Sunday, a day before the report was due to be released, a briefing session for the victims' families was held at Muan International Airport. During the session, the Air Traffic Commission announced the investigation found: "There was no engine defect, and there is circumstantial evidence that the pilot turned off the left engine, not the right engine, which was more severely damaged by the collision, after the bird strike," South Korea's Yonhap News reported. On the same day of the briefing session, Jeju Air Pilots' Union also released a statement, saying: "We are strongly outraged by the unilateral announcement by the Air Transport Commission and the media reports that quoted it without filtering, and we resolutely reject the malicious framing that seeks to shift responsibility to the pilots." In May, the families filed a criminal complaint against 15 people, including South Korean Transport Minister Park Sang-woo, and airline safety representatives. In a statement released by the lawyers for the families, they alleged negligence in managing safety risks and violations of the Aviation Safety Act. They called for a more thorough investigation into the decision to attempt to land straight after a bird strike, the aircraft engine's maintenance, and whether the construction of a runway embankment was appropriate. A source told Reuters the investigators looked at the cockpit voice recorder and computer data. The evidence also included a physical engine switch found in the wreckage, which showed pilots shut off the left engine instead of the right engine when taking emergency steps before it was meant to land, after the reported bird strike. No pre-existing defects were present in recovered engines. "The investigation team has clear evidence and backup data, so its findings will not change," the source told Reuters. The exact release date of the report has not been set; however, under international rules, a final report is expected within a year of the accident.
Arab News
2 days ago
- Arab News
Jeju Air crash families denounce report blaming pilot error
SEOUL: 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 said 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 said 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, said. 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, said. '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 criticized 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.
Al Arabiya
2 days ago
- Al Arabiya
Jeju Air crash families denounce report blaming crash on pilot error
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.
Al Arabiya
2 days ago
- Al Arabiya
Evidence shows Jeju Air pilots shut off less-damaged engine before crash, source says
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 Jeju Air pilots' union said the ARAIB was 'misleading the public' by suggesting there was no problem with the left engine given traces of bird remains were found in both engines. 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 organizational 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.
