Did chicken strike contribute to South Korea airplane crash? What we all know

Greater than 170 folks have died after a airplane crashed because it was touchdown in South Korea on Sunday morning.

The Jeju Air airplane got here off the runway earlier than colliding with a wall at Muan Worldwide Airport within the south west of the nation.

The airplane, which was getting back from Bangkok, in Thailand, was carrying 181 folks – 179 of whom have died, whereas two crew members have been rescued from the wreckage.

Authorities are investigating the reason for the crash, which hearth officers have indicated might have occurred as a result of a chicken strike and dangerous climate. Nevertheless specialists have warned the crash may have been brought on by quite a few elements.

The flight, 7C2216, was a Boeing 737-800 operated by Jeju Air, Korea’s hottest finances airline.

The airplane arrived in Muan at about 09:00 native time (00:00 GMT).

A South Korean transport official stated that the airplane had been trying to land however was pressured to carry off after air visitors management gave a chicken strike warning – an alert in regards to the danger of a collision with birds.

About two minutes later, the pilot known as in a Mayday and air visitors command gave permission for the airplane to land from the wrong way, the official stated.

One video seems to point out the airplane touching down with out utilizing its wheels or every other touchdown gear. It skidded down the runway and crashed right into a wall earlier than erupting into flames.

A witness informed the South Korean information company Yonhap that they heard a “loud bang” adopted by a “collection of explosions”.

Movies from the scene present the airplane ablaze with smoke billowing into the sky. Fireplace crews have since extinguished the fireplace.

Lee Jeong-hyun, the chief of the Muan hearth division, informed a televised briefing that the tail part of the airplane was identifiable however “one can’t recognise the form of the remainder of the airplane”.

He stated that the chicken strike and dangerous climate might have precipitated the crash – however that the precise trigger remains to be being investigated. The flight and voice recorders from the airplane have been recovered, although the Yonhap information company reported that the previous was broken

One passenger on the flight messaged a relative, saying {that a} chicken “was caught within the wing” and that the airplane couldn’t land, native media reported.

Officers, nonetheless, haven’t confirmed whether or not the airplane did really collide with any birds.

The top of Jeju Air’s administration stated that the crash was not as a result of “any upkeep points”, Yonhap reported.

The South Korean transport division stated that the top pilot on the flight had held the function since 2019 and had greater than 6,800 hours of flight expertise.

Geoffrey Thomas, an aviation professional and editor of Airline Information, informed the BBC that South Korea and its airways have been thought-about “business greatest follow” and that each the plane and the airline have an “glorious security file”.

He added: “Numerous issues about this tragedy do not make sense.”

A chicken strike is a collision between a airplane in flight and a chicken. They’re quite common – within the UK, there have been greater than 1,400 chicken strikes reported in 2022, solely about 100 of which affected the airplane, in accordance with knowledge from the Civil Aviation Authority.

The most effective identified chicken strike occurred in 2009, when an Airbus airplane made an emergency touchdown on New York’s Hudson River after colliding with a flock of geese. All 155 passengers and crew survived.

Professor Doug Drury, who teaches aviation at CQUniversity Australia, wrote in an article for The Dialog this summer season that Boeing planes have turbofan engines, which might be severely broken in a chicken strike.

He stated that pilots are educated to be particularly vigilant through the early morning or at sundown, when birds are most energetic.

However some aviation specialists are sceptical about whether or not a chicken strike may have precipitated the crash at Muan Airport.

“Usually they [bird strike] do not trigger the lack of an airplane by themselves,” Mr Thomas informed Reuters.

Australian airline security professional Geoffrey Dell additionally informed the information company: “I’ve by no means seen a chicken strike stop the touchdown gear from being prolonged.”

The airplane was carrying 175 passengers and 6 crew. Two of the passengers have been Thai and the remaining are believed to have been South Korean, authorities have stated. Many are thought to have been getting back from a Christmas vacation in Thailand.

The official dying toll stands at 179 – making it the deadliest airplane crash in South Korean historical past.

All of the passengers and 4 members of crew died.

Authorities have to date recognized at the very least 88 our bodies.

5 of the individuals who died have been youngsters underneath the age of 10. The youngest passenger was a three-year-old boy and the oldest was 78, authorities stated, citing the passenger manifest.

South Korea’s Nationwide Fireplace Company stated two members of flight crew – a person and a lady – survived the crash. They have been discovered within the tail aspect of the plane after the crash and brought to hospital, it stated.

Greater than 1,500 emergency personnel have been deployed as a part of restoration efforts, together with 490 hearth workers and 455 cops. They’ve been looking the world across the runway for elements of the airplane and those that have been onboard.

Performing President Choi Sang-mok has declared a particular catastrophe zone in Muan, which makes central authorities funding out there to the native authorities and victims.

All flights to and from Muan Worldwide Airport have been cancelled.

Households of the victims of the crash have been travelling to the airport within the hope of discovering out what occurred to their kinfolk. Video footage from Reuters exhibits officers studying names of the victims out loud.

Airport authorities and the Pink Cross have arrange greater than a dozen tents within the airport for bereaved households to grieve in non-public.

Sounds of crying echoed via the terminal. Some are annoyed at how lengthy it’s taking to establish the our bodies.

Jeju Air has apologised to households. Its chief government stated in a information convention that the airline had no historical past of accidents. It’s believed that Sunday’s crash has been the one deadly accident for the reason that airline was launched in 2005.

Airplane producer Boeing has supplied condolences to these affected.

Choi, South Korea’s appearing president, stated: “I specific my deepest condolences to the numerous victims within the incident. I’ll do all I can for the injured to rapidly recuperate.”

The federal government has declared a interval of nationwide mourning for the nation for the subsequent seven days, throughout which flags at authorities workplaces might be lowered.