The Boeing 737-800 jet, travelling from Bangkok and scheduled to arrive at Muan International Airport, overshot the runway as it made an emergency belly landing and crashed into the localiser structure, killing all but two of the 181 people and crew members onboard on Dec 29.
The localiser aids navigation of an aircraft making an approach to the runway and the structure, built of reinforced concrete and earth, at Muan airport supporting the system’s antennae was likely a cause of the disaster, experts have said.
The report highlighted much of the initial findings by the South Korean investigators that were shared with the families of the victims on Saturday, including the pilots discussing a flock of birds they spotted on its final approach.
The exact time of a bird strike reported by the pilots remains unconfirmed, the accident report said, but the aircraft “made an emergency declaration (Mayday x 3) for a bird strike during a go-around”.
“Both engines were examined, and feathers and bird blood stains were found on each,” it said.
“After the crash into the embankment, fire and a partial explosion occurred. Both engines were buried in the embankment’s soil mound, and the fore fuselage scattered up to 30m to 200m from the embankment,” it said.
The report does not say what may have led the two data recorders to stop recording simultaneously just before the pilots declared mayday.
The aircraft was at 152m flying at 298 kmh when the black boxes stopped recording, it said.
