Emergency Situation Detected... Firefighters May Be Dispatched in Advance
Among 4 Personnel Assigned to Bird Strike Prevention, 2 Are on Duty
At Muan International Airport, it was revealed that the control tower detected an emergency situation and requested the fire brigade to dispatch in advance when Jeju Air flight 7C2216, departing from Thailand, was crashing.
On the 30th, Lee Jin-cheol, head of the Busan Regional Aviation Office and the on-site manager of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport's Central Accident Response Headquarters (CARH), and Kang Jeong-hyun, head of the Aviation Operations Division, held a briefing at Muan International Airport and announced this.
Director Kang stated, "Landing permission was granted by the control tower at 8:54 the previous day, and at 8:57 the control tower issued a caution about bird activity," adding, "At 8:59, the pilot declared a Mayday emergency three times, reporting a bird strike and go-around."
He continued, "At 9:00, the passenger plane aborted the landing and attempted to re-approach," and explained, "The usual procedure is to climb to 5,000 feet and circle before landing in the same direction, but this time, for some reason, the pilot requested to land in the opposite direction."
The control tower approved landing at 9:01 in the 190-degree direction, which was different from the initial direction, and the aircraft began touchdown. At approximately 9:02:34, the control tower requested fire trucks to dispatch, and three fire trucks departed for the runway at 9:02:55. It was reported that before the dispatch request, the control tower detected abnormal signs while communicating with the aircraft and alerted the airport fire brigade of the emergency in advance. However, the aircraft began touchdown at 9:02 and collided with the airport outer wall at 9:03.
Regarding criticism that the concrete structure installed to set up the localizer exacerbated the disaster, the government stated, "The location of the airport facility is normal," and added, "It is believed to have been constructed according to domestic and international design standards, but further accident investigations are needed." They plan to investigate and disclose details such as the localizer material later.
Meanwhile, concerning the bird strike, it was explained, "Usually, four personnel are on duty for bird prevention activities, but only two were on duty on the day of the incident," and "Whether bird strikes are particularly frequent at Muan Airport needs to be accurately compared with other airports."
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