Researchers found bird feathers and blood in both engines of the Jeju Air 089590.KS jet that crashed in South Korea last month, killing 179 people, a source familiar with the investigation told Reuters on Friday (17).
The Boeing plane model BA.N 737-800, which departed from the Thai capital, Bangkok, bound for Muan County, in southwestern South Korea, made a forced landing and overshot the runway at the regional airport, .
to the worst air disaster on South Korean soil.
About four minutes before the fatal crash, one of the pilots reported a bird strike and declared an emergency before initiating an approach and attempting to land on the opposite side of the runway, according to South Korean officials.
Two minutes before the pilot declared the “Mayday” emergency order, air traffic control urged caution due to “bird activity” in the area.
Investigators said this month that feathers were found in one of the engines recovered from the crash scene, adding that video footage showed that there had been a bird strike with an engine.
South Korea’s Ministry of Transport declined to comment on whether feathers and blood were found in both engines.
The plane’s two black boxes — essential to discover the cause of the accident —, a challenge for the ongoing investigation.
Sim Jai-dong, a former accident investigator with the Ministry of Transport, said on Sunday that the missing data was surprising and suggested that all power, including reserve power, may have been cut, which is rare.
Bird strikes that affect both engines are rare occurrences in aviation, although there are successful cases of pilots landing the plane without fatalities, including the “Miracle on the Hudson River” landing in 2009 and a landing in a cornfield in Russia in 2019.
