The official in charge of the 2020 renovation of Muan International Airport in South Korea has been found dead at his home of an apparent suicide Tuesday evening. Last month, a Jeju Air Boeing 737 slammed into a concrete support off the end of the runway at Muan International, killing all but two of the 181 on board. According to a New York Times post, Son Chang-wan was president of the Korea Airports Corporation from 2018 to 2022, but was not named in the police investigation of the crash, which is largely blamed on the placement of the concrete barrier surrounding the localizer antenna off the end of the south-facing single runway.
After the investigation spurred by the fatal crash, South Korea has mandated removing concrete barriers from seven airports in the country. The barriers support and protect navigation equipment, such as the localizer antenna at Muan where the Jeju Air flight overran the runway during an emergency landing after an apparent bird strike. If the barrier had not been in place, the damage and resulting loss of life would likely have been much less than the 179 killed. The resulting safety inspection has also led to revising the airports’ runway safety areas.
Officials are planning to either replace the concrete supports with breakaway structures or bury them below grade on the runway overruns in nine locations throughout the country. According to a BBC report, a post-crash investigation revealed that a Muan International Airport operating manual recommended relocating the localizer antenna as part of a planned expansion.
