Jeju Air Plane Crash: What Happened in The Final 4 Minutes? South Korea Makes Big Claim

Seoul: The flight data and cockpit voice recorders on the Jeju Air jet that crashed on December 29, killing 179 people, stopped recording approximately four minutes before the aircraft collided with a concrete structure at South Korea's Muan Airport, according to the country's transport ministry. The incident was said to be the deadliest aviation disaster in the history of South Korea.

Officials are investigating why the "black boxes" stopped recording in the critical moments before the crash. While the voice recorder underwent initial analysis in South Korea, missing data prompted its transfer to the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) for further examination. 

Similarly, the damaged flight data recorder was sent to the United States for joint analysis with U.S. safety regulators.

Flight Jeju Air 7C2216, en route from Bangkok to Muan, attempted to land but belly-landed and overshot the runway, slamming into an embankment. The Boeing 737-800 burst into flames upon impact. Only two crew members seated in the tail section survived the crash.

According to reports, the pilots declared an emergency following a bird strike and initiated a go-around procedure. However, instead of completing a full circuit to reattempt the landing, the aircraft executed a sharp turn and approached the runway from the opposite direction. The crash landing occurred without the landing gear deployed.

Sim Jai-dong, a former transport ministry investigator, noted that the missing data from the final minutes suggests a rare occurrence of total power loss, including backups.

The investigation also scrutinizes the embankment of the jet struck. This embankment supported the airport's "localiser" system, which assists with landings. Questions have been raised about why it was constructed so close to the runway and with such rigid materials.

Victims’ families have called for greater transparency in the probe, advocating for independent experts to join the investigation. The transport ministry has assured that all available data will be used and that findings will be shared with the families.