The South Korean Aviation and Railway Accident Investigation Board (ARAIB) has released the preliminary report of the Jeju Air accident that claimed the lives of 179 people onboard the airline’s Boeing 737-800 in December, confirming that both recorders stopped minutes before the aircraft’s crash and that bird feathers and blood stains were discovered in both engines. Fatal go-around In a brief synopsis of the flight history, ARAIB detailed that Jeju Air flight 7C2216 , operated by a Boeing 737-800, registered as HL8088, took off from Bangkok Suvarnabhumi Airport (BKK) to Muan International Airport (MWX) at around 4:30 local time (UTC +7) on December 29, 2024. 181 people were onboard the aircraft, split between six crew members and 175 passengers.
At 8:54:43 local time (UTC +9), the 737-800’s pilots contacted local air traffic control (ATC), who cleared the Jeju Air aircraft to land on runway 01. Muan Airport has a single runway, runway 01/19. However, at 8:57:50, ATC warned the Jeju Air pilots that they should be cautious during their approach due to bird activity in the area.
Just a minute after that warning, both the cockpit voice recorder (CVR) and the flight data recorder (FDR) stopped recording, according to the ARAIB, which did not detail the reason behind the stoppage. At 08:58:50, the two pilots made a mayday distress call, informing ATC about a bird strike during a go-around. Since the 737-800 was flying over the left side of runway 01, it turned right and att.
