As recovery efforts are underway for the flight that crashed yesterday, December 29th, another aircraft of the same airline made an "emergency diversion" today, December 30th, due to a landing gear issue.
The flight landed safely back at its origin, and some passengers are currently flying on a replacement aircraft to their original destination. However, others decided to cancel their trips out of fear.
Flight Details
On December 30th, 2024, Jeju Air Flight 101 (7C 101) departed Gimpo International Airport (GMP) in Seoul, South Korea bound for Jeju International Airport (CJU) in Jeju, South Korea. The flight was operated with a 15-year-old Boeing 737-800 registered as HL8090.
The aircraft is one of eleven 737s that Jeju Air received from Ryanair. The aircraft involved in yesterday's accident was also one of the eleven.
Flight 101 took off at 6:44 AM local time (KST). As the flight climbed out of Gimpo, the aircraft reportedly encountered issues with the landing gear. It is not yet known what the issue exactly was, however, it is thought that the landing gear would not correctly retract. The flight stopped climbing at 4800 feet, maintaining that altitude.
The Boeing then continued south and turned towards the airport approximately 10 minutes after takeoff, while flying over Osan. After an announcement was made to the 161 passengers onboard, the plane made two circles and eventually landed back at Gimpo 36 minutes after takeoff.
The Aftermath
Passengers were offered a flight to Jeju on an alternative aircraft: another Boeing 737-800, registered HL8051. However, some passengers decided to cancel their travel out of fear due to the incident, combined with yesterday's tragic accident.
“We are sorry for the inconvenience,” Jeju Air shared in a statement to press. “The diversion was necessary for safe operations." The airline also stated that they are working to find the exact cause of the incident.
The replacement flight landed safely at Jeju International Airport at 9:39 AM local time, 2 hours and 19 minutes behind schedule.
The Second Jeju Air Mishap in Two Days
This event comes only one day after a Jeju Air Boeing 737-800 crashed into airport infrastructure in Muan, South Korea, claiming the lives of more than 170 people. Only two were rescued, making it the worst civil aviation crash in South Korean history.
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Comments (1)
Nalliah Thayabharan
Crew initially attempted to land using Runway 1 in Muan. One ground observer reportedly stated that the Jeju Air 737 flew through a flock of birds during this first approach. A number of popping sounds came from the aircraft’s engines after it hit the birds. Its landing gear was extended at this time.
The flight crew went around and declared a MAYDAY soon afterwards. At this time, it is not clear how much damage the Jeju Air 737 suffered after hitting those birds. However, its pilots soon decided to immediately return to land on runway 19, i.e. the other end of the runway.
An uncontained failure in one of its engines might have caused extensive damage to the landing gear, flight controls, and engine controls.
Both engines could be locked in full thrust from the go around, landing gear is retracted, flaps stowed and the aircraft gains speed and altitude but then it appears that the pilots were unable to deploy the landing configuration due to uncontrolled thrust as the flaps, slats because gear would be ripped off above a certain speed.
What is clear is the pilot chose to put the plane on the ground as quickly as possible, which is ideal when losing hydraulic fluid and subsequent control of the aircraft. One major contributing factor is the concrete wall that should never have been there! I have no doubt that if a collapsible antennae was installed as it should be, more people would be likely alive today.
-Nalliah Thayabharan
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