The wreckage of the Jeju Air plane that went off the runway and crashed lies at Muan International Airport in Muan, South Korea, on December 30, 2024.
Kim Hong-ji | Reuters
Aviation experts are questioning the role of an airport design that built a mound of dirt and a concrete wall behind the end of a runway into which Jeju Air Flight 7C2216 crashed on Sunday morning, killing all but two of the 181 people on board.
The plane, a Boeing After a night flight, the 737-800 landed on the runway at Muan International Airport in southwest South Korea, apparently with the flaps and landing gear retracted. The jetliner burst into flames after hitting the ground and the wall where a tracking device that guides aircraft onto the runway had been installed.
“That certainly made it difficult to stop the plane safely,” said Todd Curtis, founder of Air Safe Media, which tracks aviation accidents and other incidents. Curtis worked as a safety engineer at Boeing for nearly a decade.
Accident investigators will need months, if not longer, to uncover the cause of the crash, the worst aviation disaster ever in South Korea and the deadliest crash in years. You'll examine everything from aircraft maintenance records to pilot planning to engine and cockpit voice recorders.
Family members of the Jeju Air crash victims react as officials hold a briefing at Muan International Airport in Muan, South Korea, December 30, 2024.
Kim Soo-hyeon | Reuters
Initial indications suggest that a bird strike may have played a key role in the possible engine failure. Experts warned that the investigation was still at a very early stage.
Some aviation experts say the death toll could have been minimized if the plane had not collided with the concrete wall.
In the video of the Jeju Air plane landing, “you can see the plane sliding along, it's slowing down, they're slowing down and everything's going pretty well until they hit the wall,” said John Cox, an aviation safety consultant and a Boeing 737- Pilot.
Cox said he suspects the cause of death for most of the passengers on board was “blunt force trauma from wall impact.”
Barriers behind airport runways are common and recommended by international and other aviation authorities.
In the United States, the Federal Aviation Administration requires a safety zone of approximately 500 feet wide and 1,000 feet beyond the end of the runway to limit damage if a plane overruns the runway. However, the FAA says there are other remedies under its Runway Safety Area Program because many runways in the U.S. were built before the standard was set.
“Although the original RSA improvement projects have been completed, the program continues to evolve to address security risks and plan for future improvements,” the agency says.
For example, New York's LaGuardia Airport and other airports have installed EMAS (Engineered Material Arresting Systems) – a crushable material that slows a plane off the runway and prevents it from taxiing into more dangerous areas. In 2016, then-vice presidential candidate Mike Pence's plane overran a runway in LaGuardia and was ultimately stopped by EMAS.
The barrier at the edge of Muan International Airport's runway did not appear to be fragile or capable of falling apart, according to video footage and expert analysis, which is what investigators are likely to focus on.
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