By Jack Kim
Seoul (Reuters) -Both engines of the Jeju Airplane that crashed last month were cut off, according to a preliminary report on Monday.
The six-page report released by South Korean authorities a month after the crash.
However, the report did not provide any initial conclusions about what caused the plane to land without its landing gear deployed and why flight data recorders stopped recording in the last four minutes of the flight.
The Jeju Air flight from Bangkok on December 29 overshot the Muan airport runway when it crashed into an emergency crash and struck navigation equipment, killing all but two of 181 people and crew on board.
“After crashing into the embankment, fire and a partial explosion occurred. Both engines were buried in the bottom of the embankment, and the front fuselage up to 30 to 200 meters from the embankment at the accident site.
The locator provides navigation for a plane making an approach to the runway, and the reinforced concrete and earth structure at Muan airport that supports the system’s antennas likely contributed to the high fatality toll, experts said.
The investigation will tear down the engines, examine the components in detail, analyze data during air traffic and air traffic control, and examine the slopes, locators and evidence of a bird strike, the next steps report said.
“These comprehensive investigative activities are aimed at determining the exact cause of the accident,” it said.
MAY HOLIDAY
The report highlighted much of South Korean investigators’ initial findings shared with victims’ families on Saturday, including the pilots’ awareness of a flock of birds in the plane’s final approach.
The exact time the bird strike was reported by the pilots remains unconfirmed, the accident report says, but the aircraft “made an emergency declaration (Mayday x 3) for a bird strike during a go-around.”
The report does not say what caused the cockpit voice recorder (CVR) and flight data recorder (FDR) to stop simultaneous recording just before the pilots declared an emergency.
The aircraft was at an altitude of 152 meters (298 km/h or 185 miles per hour) about 1.1 nautical miles (2 km or 1.3 miles) from the runway at the moment the flight recorders set up the recording, it turned off the recording, it turned up the recording, it turned up the recording, it, it said.
The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), a UN agency, requires accident investigators to prepare a preliminary report within 30 days of the accident and encourages a final report to be published within 12 months.
South Korea’s Aviation and Railway Accident Investigation Committee has shared its report with ICAO, Thailand and the United States and France, which are home states for the aircraft and engine maker, an official said on Monday.
