Air crash in South Korea: investigators face a new challenge.

The two black boxes from the Boeing 737-800 of Jeju Air, which crashed in late December in South Korea, stopped recording approximately four minutes before the disaster. Investigators plan to determine the reason for the interruption in the aircraft's parameter recording.

This was reported by RBK-Ukraine citing Reuters.

The Ministry of Transportation noted that the recording stopped about four minutes after the pilot of the airliner reported a bird strike.

Initially, the flight recorder was analyzed in South Korea. Upon discovering the absence of recorded data, it was sent to the laboratory of the National Transportation Safety Board in the United States.

The "black box" recorders of airliners collect data on pilots' conversations in the cockpit as well as the operation of the aircraft’s onboard systems. South Korean investigators stated that this data is crucial for understanding the causes of the crash.

Former investigator of the Ministry of Transportation, Sim Jai Dong, suggested that the recording on the Boeing 737-800 black boxes might have stopped due to a complete power failure of the aircraft, including backup systems, which is extremely rare.

The Ministry of Transportation stated that other available data will also be utilized in the investigation, ensuring transparency and communication of information to the victims' families. Meanwhile, some family members of the victims expressed that the agency should not take the initiative in the investigation and should involve independent experts, including those recommended by the families.

Investigators are also looking into why the embankment, which housed the landing locator system that the aircraft collided with, was constructed from such a rigid material and why it was located so close to the runway's end.

Jeju Air Crash in the Republic of Korea

On December 29, 2024, the Jeju Air aircraft was operating a flight from Bangkok, the capital of Thailand, to Muan in the southwest of the Republic of Korea.

During descent, the aircraft reportedly collided with a flock of birds, resulting in multiple system failures. The pilots issued a Mayday signal and requested an emergency landing.

During the landing, the Boeing overshot the runway, collided with the airport's fencing, subsequently exploded, and was completely engulfed in flames.

Out of 181 passengers and crew members, 179 perished in the disaster. Only two individuals, located in the tail section of the aircraft, survived.

For more details on the crash and its potential causes, read our feature article.