Black boxes stopped recording before Jeju Air jet crash
The flight data and cockpit voice recorders on a Jeju Air jet that crashed in South Korea stopped recording about four minutes before the airliner hit a concrete structure at Muan airport, the transport ministry says.
Authorities investigating the disaster - the worst on South Korean soil - that killed 179 people plan to analyse what caused the black boxes to stop recording, the ministry said in a statement on Saturday.
The voice recorder was initially analysed in South Korea.
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By continuing you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy.When data was found to be missing, it was sent to a US National Transportation Safety Board laboratory, the ministry said.
The damaged flight data recorder was taken to the US for analysis in co-operation with the US safety regulator, the ministry has said.
Jeju Air 7C2216, which departed the Thai capital Bangkok for Muan in southwest South Korea, belly-landed and overshot the regional airport’s runway, exploding into flames after hitting an embankment.
The pilots told air traffic control the aircraft had suffered a bird strike and declared an emergency about four minutes before it crashed into the embankment, exploding in flames.
Two injured crew members, sitting in the tail section, were rescued.
Originally published on Reuters
