Physical Address
304 North Cardinal St.
Dorchester Center, MA 02124
The flight data and cockpit voice recorders of the South Korean airliner that crashed last month stopped recording four minutes before the disaster, the country’s Transportation Ministry said.
The Jeju Air flight crash killed 179 people, making it the deadliest air crash on Korean soil. Two cabin crew were the only survivors.
Investigators hoped the data from the recorders would provide information about the crucial moments before the tragedy.
The ministry said it would analyze what caused the “black boxes” to stop recording.
The recorders were originally examined in South Korea, the ministry said.
When the data was discovered to be missing, American safety regulators brought it to the US and analyzed it.
The plane was traveling from Bangkok on December 29 when it crashed at Muan International Airport and slid into a wall at the end of the runway, bursting into flames.
Sim Jai-dong, a former accident investigator at the Transport Ministry, told Reuters news agency that the loss of data from the crucial final minutes was surprising and suggested that all power, including backup, could have been cut.
Many questions remain unanswered. Researchers have been analyzing the role that a clash of birds or weather conditions may have played a role.
They have also focused on why the Boeing 737-800 did not have its landing gear down when it arrived on the runway.
