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a burning Plane crash in South Korea widely attributed to the failed landing gear has sparked a flurry of speculation, including whether something else came into play before the disaster.
“There are a million backups on this plane. It’s extremely safe, and that’s what a lot of people say. They can’t understand why this plane landed on that runway at that speed with no flaps, no equipment. There could have been something more involved,” aviation consultant Mike Boyd told Fox News on Sunday.
“A bird strike on an engine could shut it down, but there are so many redundant systems there that it just doesn’t make sense. We’re not in the dark, but we know the runway is 9,200 feet. It’s a very long way. (The plane) arrived hot and loud, hot and fast. We don’t know why that was the real problem.
Eyewitnesses to the accident that killed 179 people said they saw flames in the plane’s engine and heard explosions, according to reports. One described seeing a “flash of light” followed by smoke. Another said the plane was unable to land on the initial attempt and had to turn around to try again before the crash occurred.
Firefighters search for the missing and recover the deceased at the site of a crash near Muan International Airport in Jeollanam-do, South Korea, Dec. 29, 2024, where a Jeju Air passenger plane crashed during the landing. (Chris Jung/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
The Yonhap news agency said authorities are investigating a possible landing gear failure stemming from a bird strike that may have caused the crash.
“That plane probably suffered more damage than we thought, and it may not have just been the bird strike,” Boyd added. “Other things may have happened to that plane. We don’t know, but it’s very strange for that plane to land in such heat on a runway where it was literally still going pretty hard when it hit that wall.”
The Jeju Air flight skidded off the runway and crashed into a concrete fence at Muan International Airport in Muan, South Korea, about 190 miles south of Seoul, on Sunday, leaving only two survivors out of 181. board.
Images of the incident show the 15-year-old boy. Boeing 737-800 airplane sliding down the runway upside down after its landing gear failed to deploy. The crash caused a cloud of black smoke to rise into the sky.
“The gear is not extended. The flaps are not extended, which would indicate that there was a major hydraulic failure of some type there,” Boyd observed.
A closed Jeju Air Co. ticket office at Muan International Airport in Muan County, South Korea, Sunday, Dec. 29, 2024. (SeongJoon Cho/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
“Even when there is a hydraulic failure, there is a mechanical way to drop the landing gear. That was not done. I think we are going to be a little in the dark here until we find the cockpit voice recorder and the black box to This, because it seems that there was a collision with a bird in a previous image. They directed the plane towards the other end of the runway, so there was control but landing at this speed or descending at that speed with the gear not down. It seems that that plane suffered some major hydraulic failure somewhere. guy”.
In a statement following the incident, Boeing said the company is in contact with Jeju Air regarding the flight and is “ready to support them.”
“We express our deepest condolences to the families who lost their loved ones and our thoughts remain with the passengers and crew,” the statement continued.
The incident is being called the worst aviation-related disaster in the country’s history.
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Fox News’ Sarah Rumpf-Whitten, Chris Pandolfo and Landon Mion contributed to this report.
