Seoul, Jan 27 (EFE).- The black box of low-cost carrier Jeju Air that crashed fatally last month in South Korea stopped recording 2 kilometers before the plane reached the runway, according to a preliminary report published Monday by authorities.
This is the first report to be made public as part of the investigation into the incident on Dec. 29 at Muan International Airport, which left 179 of the 181 people on board dead.
Preliminary findings will be sent to the International Civil Aviation Organization, as well as to the aviation authorities of the United States, France, and Thailand, according to the transport ministry.
According to the report, the black box stopped recording at 8:58:50am on Dec. 29, 4 minutes and 7 seconds before the plane suffered a bird strike near the runway.
The report also said the exact moment of the bird strike, which allegedly caused the crash, or the number of birds involved and whether there were other bird species present, has not yet been determined.
The explosion of the Boeing 737-800 occurred at 9:03 am, just after the plane crashed into a concrete wall off the runway after touching down without activating the landing gear or other braking devices.
Minutes before touching down, the pilot of flight 7C2216 had issued a distress alert and notified the air traffic control tower that the aircraft had been affected by a bird strike.
The South Korean transport ministry said although the data from the black boxes is essential for the investigation of the incident, they are not the only sources for obtaining information about it.
Authorities will continue analyzing air traffic records, video recordings of the incident, and the remains found at the scene of the crash.
The incident, in which only two members of the plane’s crew survived, has led the airline to reduce its correspondence from Busan during the first quarter to strengthen its aircraft maintenance operations, in the midst of scrutiny on the causes of the incident. EFE
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