The Captain's Final Moment... Reaching Out to the Panel
"He Must Have Done His Best Until the Last Moment"
"Stable Belly Landing... Poured All His Experience"
A photo presumed to be the last image of the captain trying to stop the plane just before the accident. Online community
A moment presumed to be the last appearance of the captain was captured in the Jeju Air passenger plane accident that occurred at Muan Airport in Jeollanam-do. It is interpreted that the captain tried to minimize the damage as much as possible by touching the overhead panel until the very last moment.
On the 1st, a photo capturing the moment of the accident was posted on social media (SNS). Mr. A, who uploaded the photo, wrote, "The last moment of the accident plane's captain. His hand was on the cockpit panel until the final moment..." and "I believe you did your best." Mr. A focused on the last moment inside the airplane cockpit. The photo shows the captain stretching his arm inside the cockpit window, seemingly touching the overhead panel.
Netizens who saw the photo left comments such as, "It seems he tried to minimize the damage until the end," "The captain did his best until the last moment," "Even I, who know nothing, saw that the belly landing was very stable. It looks like he poured all his experience into it," "How scared he must have been at that moment," "My heart aches for the hand stretched out trying to do something until the end," "I can't watch because it hurts my heart," "There must have been a moment of relief at the moment the plane touched the ground," and "It's heartbreaking and sad."
A photo presumed to be the last image of the captain trying to stop the plane just before the accident. Photo by MBC
Captain Han (45) of the Jeju Air disaster passenger plane was a former Air Force officer and joined Jeju Air in 2014. He was promoted to captain in March 2019 and has a flight experience of 6,823 hours. Considering that captains with 13 to 14 years of experience in low-cost carriers (LCCs) generally have around 7,000 total flight hours, the industry evaluates that Captain Han had been flying without major issues. It is also known that Captain Han was regarded as a skilled pilot among his colleagues.
Meanwhile, the accident occurred on the morning of the 29th of last month when Jeju Air flight 7C2216, departing from Bangkok, Thailand at 9:03 AM and heading to Muan International Airport, attempted a belly landing due to a landing gear malfunction but collided with a concrete embankment at the end of the runway. According to fire authorities, out of 181 passengers on board, 179 died, and only 2 crew members were rescued, making it a major disaster. This accident remains the deadliest aviation accident in South Korea in terms of human casualties.
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