Questions rise over a concrete runway structure and its impact on the crash.
A Jeju Air Boeing 737 aircraft (Photo: AirlineGeeks | Ben Suskind)
South Korea’s government has ordered the inspection of all Boeing 737-800 aircraft in the country following Sunday’s deadly Jeju Air crash.
Jeju Air Flight 2216 veered off a runway and caught fire near Muan, South Korea, on Sunday morning killing 179 of the 181 people aboard. The exact cause of the incident is still being investigated.
Shortly after the crash, Boeing posted a statement on X saying it was in contact with Jeju Air and stood ready to support them.
According to reporting by South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency, an unnamed transport ministry official said the government plans to have airlines conduct a full safety review on the Boeing model to ensure regulations are followed.
These inspections would check carriers’ aircraft utilization rates, flight inspections, and maintenance records. The ministry official also told Yonhap that the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board will participate in the crash investigation.
The ministry has told airlines operating the Boeing 737-800 model that it will dispatch air safety inspectors to probe pilot training, engines, and landing gears of the aircraft.
According to another Yonhap report, some observers are speculating if a four-meter-high concrete and dirt mound at the Muan International Airport may have caused more fatalities in the crash. The report stated that the aircraft skidded about 1,600 meters on the runway before colliding with the structure, which holds a “localizer” navigation system to assist in aircraft landings.
The localizer is installed about 251 meters from the end of the runway, and some other airports both in the country and abroad use them with similar concrete structures, the ministry has said in briefings covered by Yonhap.
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