What Happened in Final Minutes Before South Korean Plane Crash Disaster: Do They Hold the Key to What Went Wrong?

• The Dec. 29 crash of Jeju Air flight 7C2216 at South Korea’s Muan International Airport killed 179 people on board and left two survivors
• Authorities offered a timeline of the final minutes of the doomed flight
• South Korea announced that all Boeing 737-800 aircraft overseen by its airlines will undergo safety inspections

As the investigation is underway to determine the cause of the crash of a South Korean passenger plane that killed 179 people on board earlier this week, authorities are piecing together what happened in the final minutes of the doomed flight. 

Authorities have recovered Jeju Air flight 7C2216’s partially damaged black box whose data could take time to retrieve, said Ju Jong-wan, a director of aviation policy at South Korea’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, reported The New York Times. 

In a previous statement posted to Instagram, Jeju Air CEO Kim E-bae confirmed the aircraft “caught fire while landing” at Muan International Airport at around 9:03 a.m. local time on Sunday, Dec. 29. 

As South Korean news agency Yonhap and CNN previously reported, the aircraft carrying 175 passengers and six crew members was flying in from Bangkok when it “veered off the runway” after landing and “collided” with a concrete fence at the airport. Two people, a pair of flight attendants, were reportedly the only survivors and rescued with “mid to severe” injuries.

Meanwhile, authorities have offered a timeline of those last minutes leading to the crash at Muan on Dec. 29. According to the country’s transport ministry, as reported by the Times, The Wall Street Journal and Reuters, at around 8:57 a.m., the airport’s air traffic control warned the plane of bird activity as the aircraft was readying to land.  

Then, at 8:59 a.m., the pilots responded with an emergency “mayday mayday mayday” and “bird strike, bird strike, go-around.”

A minute later, one of the pilots aboard the plane said he would do a go-around and asked the control tower to authorize the aircraft to land on runway 19 — meaning it would make a 180-degree loop and approach from the opposite end of the runway, Reuters and the Journal reported. 

At 9:01 a.m., the control tower granted the pilots approval for the new landing. 

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Then, at 9:03 a.m., Jeju Air flight 7C2216, which didn’t appear to have its landing gear according to footage, overshot the runway, crashed into the concrete structure and burst into flames, added the Times.

At 9:23 a.m., according to authorities, one person was rescued and taken to a medical facility. Twenty-seven minutes later, another person was retrieved from inside the plane’s tail section. 

BBC News reported officials are theorizing that a bird strike and inclement weather may have been factors in the disaster. According to the same outlet, the victims’ ages spanned from 3 to 78, while most of the others were in their 40s, 50s and 60s.

Jeju Air CEO Kim E-bae said on Dec. 29 that the plane showed “no signs of issues” before the crash, CNN reported. 

“At this time, it is difficult to determine the cause of the accident, and we have to wait for the official announcement of the investigation by the relevant government agency,” the airline executive said at a news briefing at the time. 

On the day of the incident, families were seen weeping and wailing as officials read off the names of the crash victims who perished at Muan International Airport, according to CNN and NBC News.

Maeng Gi-su, an uncle of one of the victims, told BBC News that his nephew and his nephew’s two sons had been in Thailand for a celebratory visit. All three were killed in the crash. 

“I can’t believe the entire family has just disappeared,” Maeng told the U.K. outlet. “My heart aches so much.”

In the aftermath of the aviation crash  — now considered the deadliest to have occurred in the region in recent history — South Korean authorities said they will make safety inspections of every Boeing 737-800 aircraft overseen by the nation’s airline companies, according to the Associated Press on Tuesday, Dec. 31. 

“The essence of a responsible response would be renovating the aviation safety systems on the whole to prevent recurrences of similar incidents and building a safer Republic of South Korea,” said acting South Korean President Choi Sang-mok, the news agency reported. 

In a Dec. 29 X post, Boeing shared a message that read: “We are in contact with Jeju Air regarding flight 2216 and stand ready to support them.”

“We extend our deepest condolences to the families who lost loved ones, and our thoughts remain with the passengers and crew,” the statement continued.