179 people died in the serious accident last December
The investigation into the Jeju Air’s fatal plane crash last December brought out “obvious evidence” that the pilots turned off the engine less damaged by the impact with a flock of birds. It is the result that emerged from the investigation based on what is reported by the South Korean media considering the tests collected, including the voice recorder of the pilot cabin, the computer data and a motor switch found among the scrap.
In other words, the human error would have a significant weight: the pilots turned off the left engine instead of the right one during the emergency maneuvers after the impact with the flock, just before the expected landing. The crash of the Boeing 737-800 on 29 December at Muan airport caused the death of 179 of the 181 passengers and crew members, equal to the most fatal air disaster on South Korean soil. On Saturday, during a briefing, the investigators referred to the families of the victims that the right engine had been damaged more seriously by the impact with the flock, and that there were circumstantial evidence that the pilots had turned off the left engine, less damaged.
The families of the victims, however, were informed of the relationship drawn up by the South Korean authorities, but they opposed its publication considering improper that the fault was attributed to the pilots without examining other factors. Jeju Air’s plane, for example, overpassed the track of Muan airport during the emergency landing in the belly, crashing into an embankment in which there were navigation equipment, causing a fire and a partial explosion. The representatives of the families of the victims and the union of Jeju Air’s pilots said during the weekend that the investigation must also focus on the embankment, suspected of having contributed to causing the high number of deaths.
