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ReutersA pre-flight inspection of a Jeju Air passenger plane hours before it crashed in South Korea, killing 179 people, found no problems, the airline said.
“Nothing abnormal was observed with the landing gear,” the airline’s CEO Kim Yi-bae said at a press conference in Seoul as investigations continue into why the wheels were not lowered during the emergency landing.
The plane was flying from Bangkok when it made an emergency landing at Mueang International Airport on Sunday, catching fire and killing all but two crew members on board. after sliding into the wall.
Investigators are still working to identify the victims and the cause of South Korea’s deadliest plane crash.
Many questions remain unanswered, and investigators are looking into the role of bird collisions or weather conditions.
They also focused on why the Boeing 737-800 did not have its landing gear down when it hit the runway shortly after 09:00 local time (00:00 GMT) on Sunday.
Hundreds of grieving relatives camped out at the airport in Mouan, furious that they have yet to see the bodies of their loved ones.
At the moment, the remains of several victims have been handed over to their families. Four were taken to funeral homes Tuesday, but most other families are still waiting to identify their loved ones.
In response to questions on the company’s safety procedures on Tuesday, Jeju Air CEO Kim Yi Bae said the plane would not have been cleared for takeoff if the maintenance team had not confirmed its safety.
He said his pilots have been trained to meet standards and the company has two full-fledged simulators.
“We have 12.9 maintenance workers per aircraft, up from 12 in 2019,” he said.
“We have a strict maintenance checklist, it’s impossible to miss things. If something was missed, it would be a big problem.
“As to whether the landing gear was functioning properly, that is directly related to the accident investigation and we cannot know that at this time.”
Mr Kim said the airline would cut flights by 10-15% this winter to be able to do more aircraft maintenance, but said this was not an admission that the company was using too many planes.
He added that they will increase weather monitoring before and after flights.
Mr. Kim also acknowledged that Jeju Air has paid the most fines and faced the most administrative measures of any Korean airline in the past five years, but said the company is constantly improving its safety record.
He said he was looking to strengthen the company’s security and maintenance measures, adding: “We are looking to restore your trust in us by strengthening our security measures.”
Mr. Kim said the airline was preparing emergency compensation for the victims’ families and covering funeral expenses.
The money will be released soon, he said, pending the completion of the insurance process. He added that the company’s employees are on site and are providing psychological counseling to the families.
The 179 passengers on flight 7C2216 ranged in age from three to 78, although most were in their 40s, 50s and 60s, Yonhap news agency reported. Two Thai nationals were among the dead, and the rest are believed to be South Koreans, authorities said.
Many relatives are frustrated by how long the process has taken to identify the victims’ bodies, but officials say it’s difficult because those on board were badly burned in the fire after the crash.
One man the BBC spoke to at the airport said his nephew and his nephew’s two sons were on a holiday trip to Thailand to celebrate the end of college entrance exams. All three died in flight.
“I can’t believe the whole family has just disappeared,” Maeng Gi Soo, 78, told the BBC. “My heart hurts so bad.”
The runway at Muang International Airport will remain closed for another week while experts collect more debris and debris.
On Tuesday, investigators began examining two black boxes of the plane – the cockpit recorder and the flight data recorder.
The second device is missing a critical connector, which will complicate data extraction. This could prolong the search for answers as to why this plane was forced to land without landing gear.
Officials also said they were looking into the rules surrounding the concrete barrier the plane crashed into when it skidded off the end of the runway.
