South Korean authorities have defended airport infrastructure at the site of the country’s worst civilian air accident as questions grow about the role the concrete wall at the end of the runway played in the disaster.
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(Bloomberg) — South Korean authorities defended airport infrastructure at the site of the country’s worst civilian air accident as questions mount about the role the concrete wall at the end of the runway played in the disaster.
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The structure, which houses an array of antennas used to guide the plane’s landing, was placed in accordance with international standards outside the 199-meter-long safety zone on the runway, Seoul’s Ministry of Transport said in a statement Monday evening. The statement added that the investigation will look into how the barrier affected the accident.
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The comments come after international safety experts said Sunday’s plane crash that killed 179 people was exacerbated by the location of the concrete structure at the end of the runway.
The tragedy involved a Boeing Co. The 737-800 – the predecessor to the Max – is operated by Jeju Air Co. The plane caught fire at Muan International Airport early Sunday morning after sliding down the runway on its belly and colliding with a wall. The wing flaps and slats did not appear to be extended when the plane touched down, which would have slowed it, and the landing gear was not deployed.
But one of the biggest questions, according to safety experts, is why the concrete-covered hill was placed at the end of the runway. Experts said other countries, such as the United States, Canada and European countries, use the same types of antennas but are designed to break easily to avoid this type of scenario. It is also rare for equipment to be placed on top of a hill.
“There’s no reason to put it on concrete,” said Capt. John Cox, president and CEO of Safety Operating Systems LLC. He added, “The seriousness of this accident would have been significantly different if this concrete barrier had not been present.”
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South Korean regulations stipulate that any facilities or equipment in the runway safety area must be made of easily breakable materials to reduce danger to aircraft. But the rules did not apply to the antenna structure at Muan Airport because it was outside the safety zone.
Jeff Guzzetti, former chief of accident investigation for the US Federal Aviation Administration, also questioned why such a rigid structure was used to house the antenna array, and said the airport’s standards would likely be given a closer look by investigators.
Guzzetti and Cox also suspected that both engines of the Jeju Air plane may have failed before landing, since the wing flaps and landing gear had not been extended, indicating that the plane had lost all power. Both said it was possible they were struck by birds or even that one was badly damaged and then the flight crew accidentally grounded the second plane.
Emergency landing
There have been other incidents in which planes landed on their bellies that resulted in no deaths or very few casualties, including the “Hudson River Miracle” in 2009 in which an American Airlines flight landed in the Hudson River after the plane struck a flock of geese. Which disabled both engines. Pilots of a plane operated by Piedmont Airlines in 1989 were able to land safely in Greensboro, North Carolina, after the main landing gear failed. Neither accident resulted in any deaths.
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A Garuda Indonesia plane made a controlled landing in a river in 2002 after both engines caught fire in a severe thunderstorm, resulting in one death.
South Korean authorities are working on the plane’s black boxes, or flight recorders, which will shed more light on the final moments before the plane crashed. Authorities revealed Tuesday that the flight data recorder, which tracks plane parameters such as altitude and airspeed, was missing a crucial component, which could delay the investigation.
Korean investigators are also getting help from a team from the United States led by the National Transportation Safety Board.
“It’s early,” Cox said. “Let’s get my recorder read. This will tell the story of the trip.”
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