Jeju Air Flight 2216, which crashed at Muan International Airport on Sunday, claiming a total of 179 lives, is suspected to have resulted from a bird strike that disabled the landing gear. The failure to deploy all three landing gears forced the pilot to attempt an emergency belly landing, leading to the tragic accident.
A police forensic team official investigates debris from the crash site of Jeju Air Flight 7C2216 from Bangkok, which exploded after colliding with an outer wall during touchdown at Muan International Airport due to a landing gear malfunction, Sunday. (Korea Times photo by Park Si-mon)
According to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (MOLIT) and firefighting authorities, the aircraft likely experienced a malfunction due to birds being sucked into the engine during descent.
This malfunction may have disrupted the hydraulic system that controls the landing gear.
Professor Kim Kyu-wang of Hanseo University said, “Sparks observed from the engine are strong evidence of a bird strike.”
Witnesses also reported seeing flames from the aircraft’s right engine during its approach to the airport.
However, questions remain as to why both engines failed simultaneously and whether the malfunction directly impacted the hydraulic system.
Joo Jong-wan, a director at the transport ministry, said during a briefing, “Typically, engine failure and landing gear failure are not directly linked. Even if the landing gear doesn’t deploy automatically, there are manual overrides. The exact cause will need to be determined through an analysis of the flight data recorder.”
The National Emergency Management Center said the crash occurred just two minutes after the pilot issued a Mayday call, leaving little time for manual attempts to deploy the landing gear.
Professor Kim Kwang-il of Silla University said, “The pilot likely judged that attempting a landing was safer than trying to stay airborne without engine power.”
Urgent belly-landing leads to catastrophe
Faced with a dire situation, the pilot chose to execute a belly landing, dragging the plane’s underside along the ground in a last-resort maneuver.
While belly landings typically require about 20 minutes of preparation — such as clearing the runway, deploying foam to reduce friction, and setting up nets — this incident left no time for such measures.
Experts believe that the fire and toxic fumes entering the cabin accelerated the need for an emergency landing. Additionally, the failure to burn off fuel beforehand likely worsened the fire risk.
“Belly landings generate intense frictional heat, increasing the danger of fire. The situation could have been mitigated if fuel had been jettisoned and the fire quickly extinguished,” said a firefighting specialist.
The aircraft appeared to touch down mid-runway, rather than near the threshold, which reduced the available braking distance and caused it to skid into the airport's outer wall.
“Belly landings require sufficient braking distance, but in this case, the plane’s momentum carried it into the wall,” said Professor Ko Seung-hee of Silla University.
Comparison to other belly landings
Belly landings are not always fatal. In 2016, an Emirates flight in Dubai and a Red Air flight in Miami in 2022 both performed successful belly landings with no casualties.
Domestically, a Korean Air flight in 1991 executed a belly landing in Daegu, resulting in only minor injuries.
Some have compared this crash to the “Miracle on the Hudson,” where a US Airways flight successfully landed on New York’s Hudson River in 2009.
However, experts caution against such comparisons due to differing conditions.
“Water landings carry their own risks, including drowning and uneven resistance, making smooth landings uncertain,” said Professor Kim Kwang-il. “This was an exceptionally unlucky incident, with the worst-case scenario unfolding.”
While some initial speculation suggested that the runway length might have been a contributing factor, experts and MOLIT refuted this claim.
Muan Airport’s 2,800-meter runway is comparable to those at Daegu (2,755 meters), Gunsan (2,745 meters), Cheongju (2,744 meters), and Gimhae (2,743 meters) airports.
“This runway has accommodated similar aircraft before, so it’s unlikely the length was a factor,” said a MOLIT official.
(This article from the Hankook Ilbo, a sister publication of The Korea Times, is translated by a generative AI and edited by The Korea Times.)