Both Jeju Airlines Crash Aircraft Engines Suffered Bird Strikes

We bring you news that investigators have found bird feathers and blood in both engines of a Jeju Airlines 737 that crashed in South Korea last December.

So, what do we know for facts and what is informed speculation about the Jeju Airlines crash?

1. Air Traffic control advised Jeju Airlines flight 226 from Bangkok on Dec 29, 2024, with 181 aboard,  of flocks of birds.
2. The Jeju airlines 737 was on approach to runway 01 at Maun International airport at about 1000ft with undercarriage down and faps set.
3. Shorty, afterwards and approximately four minutes before the crash, one of the pilots reported a bird strike and declared an emergency and go-around.
4. It is thought that the birds took out the left-hand engine.
5. At this point the aircraft stops transmitting ADSB data to air traffic control indicating some kind of electrical failure which also accounts for the failure of the black boxes.
6. The Jeju Airlines crew retracted the undercarriage and flaps
7. Video vision captures what appears to be a second bird strike on the right-hand engine possibly disabling it.
8. Aircraft approaches from the north and floats down the runway due to ground effect
9. Flaps and undercarriage are retracted
10. The right-hand engine thrust reverser is deployed but if the engine was working it would have  sent the aircraft off to the right which didn’t happen.
11. One must assume there was no power from either engine as the aircraft took a direct course down the runway.
12. As mentioned the critical last four minutes of the black boxes was not recorded. In case of an electrical failure there is no battery backup to the black boxes for this aircraft which was manufactured in 2009. In 2010 the FAA mandated battery backup.
13. The collision with the localizer beam killed all but two of the passengers and crew, The two crew who survived were seated in the rear of the aircraft.
14. The Maun Airport is located near a major bird habitat that has had the most cases of bird strike of any of the South Korean airports, 10 cases since 2019.

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