SEOUL — The black boxes of the Jeju Air Co. passenger plane involved in
last month's fatal crash has been found to lack data from the final four
minutes before the explosion, according to investigative authorities on
Saturday.
According to South Korean authorities, an analysis by the
US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) of the flight data recorder
(FDR) and cockpit voice recorder (CVR) from the B737-800 aircraft showed that
recordings stopped on both devices approximately four minutes before the
aircraft collided with a localiser structure.
The explosion occurred at 9:03 a.m. on December 29, 2024,
when the Jeju Air flight struck a concrete mound housing localiser equipment at
the end of Muan International Airport after skidding without its landing gear
open.
The FDR and CVR ceased recording data starting at 8:59
a.m., making it challenging for investigators to analyse the situation.
Authorities said that while FDR and CVR data are critical
for investigations, they are not the sole sources of evidence.
"The investigation involves analysing various
sources of information, including air traffic control records, video footage of
the crash and debris from the site," they said.
The black box components were sent to the NTSB in
Washington last week for cross-verification to ensure data reliability. South
Korean investigators dispatched to the NTSB are set to return to Korea on
Monday to continue their probe at home.
Earlier on January 7, South Korea's government had
excluded former and current senior officials from participating in an
investigation into the recent Jeju Air plane crash to avoid conflicts of
interest and ensure a fair and objective probe, the transport minister said.
Transport Minister Park Sang-woo had announced the plan to
exclude such figures from the Aviation and Railway Accident Investigation
Board, which was tasked with investigating the fatal December 29 crash that had
claimed 179 lives.
"To clearly determine the cause of the accident, we
will continue the investigation in compliance with international norms and
domestic laws to ensure fairness," Park had said during a press briefing
held at the government complex in the central city of Sejong.
Park had explained that Chang Man-hee, chairman of the
board and a former ministry official, and Joo Jong-wan, head of the ministry's
aviation policy office serving as a standing board member, had been excluded
from all board activities.
Furthermore, Park had said that data transcription of the
cockpit voice recorder from the crashed B737-800 aircraft had been completed
and that the separate flight data recorder from the plane had been transported
to the United States for analysis.
