South Korea will release a preliminary report by Monday on last month’s Jeju Air crash that killed 179 people, the deadliest air disaster in the country’s history, according to the transport ministry.
One aspect under investigation is the potential role of a bird strike in the Dec. 29 crash of flight 7C2216, which was arriving at Muan International Airport from Bangkok.
The report will be shared with the International Civil Aviation Organization, as well as with the United States, France, and Thailand, according to the ministry.
Seoul has been collaborating with investigators from the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board and France’s Bureau of Enquiry and Analysis for Civil Aviation Safety.
Analyzing and verifying flight data, cockpit voice recordings—which stopped four minutes and seven seconds before the crash—and communication recordings with the control tower will take several months, the ministry added.
The pilots discussed birds flying under the Boeing 737-800 before declaring a mayday at 08:58:56, reporting a bird strike while the plane was on a go-around, the statement said.
Airport CCTV footage also showed the plane making “contact” with birds during the go-around. Earlier, the ministry had stated that the pilots issued the distress signal due to bird strikes before executing the go-around.
The jet crashed at 9:02:57 a.m., slamming into an embankment and bursting into flames, killing everyone onboard except for two crew members in the tail section.
The surveillance footage, taken from too far away to determine if there was a spark from the bird strike, “confirmed the plane making contact with birds, though the exact time is unclear,” a ministry official told Reuters.
