The landing gear of the plane that crashed into the wall of an airport in South Korea appears not to have been lowered when it made a forced landing on the runway, according to an expert.
Mary Schiavo, former inspector general of the US Department of Transportation, based her analysis on videos of the moment of the collision, which occurred on Sunday morning (29), local time (Saturday night, 28, Brasília time).
The expert said one of the engines may have broken or the plane’s panel may have been damaged. Another possibility, she said, is that the pilot was trying to go around.
“Maybe there were problems with the lights and they weren’t sure if the landing gear was down or not. It is a very appropriate procedure to enter the airport and walk across the runway to have the (control) tower look to confirm whether the landing gear is down or up,” Schiavo told CNN.
The Jeju Air flight was carrying 181 people (175 passengers and six crew) from Bangkok, the capital of Thailand, to South Korea. To date, 85 deaths have been confirmed.
The tragedy occurred during a busy holiday travel season, noted Schiavo, who spoke from Chiang Mai, Thailand.
“Everything is packed with families celebrating the holidays,” he said.
Although Jeju Air is a low-cost airline, South Korea has a generally high aviation safety rating, according to Schiavo.
South Korea is classified as Category 1 in the United States Federal Aviation Administration’s International Aviation Safety Assessment Program.
