Two crew members were pulled from the burning wreck of a Jeju Airlines Boeing 737-800 that landed gear up at Muan Airport in southwestern South Korea but all the remaining 179 people on board died. Video shows the plane sliding on its nacelles before hitting a perimeter barrier and exploding. Only the tail section appeared intact and that’s where the two survivors were located. There were 175 passengers and six crew members on board and all except two Thai nationals were from South Korea. The flight originated in Bangkok.
Officials are now saying a bird strike might have had something to do with the disaster. One of the survivors mentioned a bird strike and air traffic control reportedly warned the flight crew of birds in the area before the accident. It’s not clear how that might have affected gear deployment, however. The main gear is obscured by smoke in the video but the nose gear doors appear to be closed. The aircraft also doesn’t appear to be in landing configuration and there was no call from the crew announcing intentions to land gear up.
Footage of the Airplane crash in South Korea. 181 people on board pic.twitter.com/h4LXd9cghx
— non aesthetic things (@PicturesFoIder) December 29, 2024
