A report has found that pilot error led to the Jeju Air crash in South Korea last December, which killed 179 people. The Boeing 737 struck a flock of birds near Muan Airport, causing one engine to fail.
A report has found that pilot error led to the Jeju Air crash in South Korea last December, which killed 179 people. The Boeing 737 struck a flock of birds near Muan Airport, causing one engine to fail. Investigators say the pilots mistakenly shut down the working engine instead. “A pilot may have mistakenly turned off the engine,” officials said. The plane descended at high speed with its landing gear retracted and slammed into a concrete embankment, erupting in flames. Only two rear cabin crew survived. Despite public backlash at a press conference—where one man yelled, “They’ve just blamed it all on the pilots”—officials stood by the findings, ruling out mechanical failure. “The pilot should have turned off the right engine… but he turned off the left engine,” an official told MBN News. Families criticized the report as “unconvincing,” with Kim Yu-Jin warning that how the findings are disclosed may impact compensation for victims’ families.