South Korean Plane Crash Kills 179 in One of Deadliest Aviation Disasters in Years

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By Dasl Yoon, Timothy W. Martin and Andrew Tangel

(The Wall Street Journal) — International investigators worked to pinpoint what caused the fiery crash of a South Korean passenger plane that killed nearly all of the 181 people on board, in one of the deadliest aviation disasters in years.

The aircraft skidded off the runway, collided with a concrete barrier and burst into flames as it attempted to land Sunday at an airport in Muan County, in the country’s southwest, just after 9 a.m. local time. The plane, operated by South Korea’s Jeju Air, was a Boeing 737-800, a workhorse of commercial air travel.

Shortly before landing, the control tower warned of a possible bird strike and the Jeju Air pilots issued a mayday. Aviation safety experts said a severe bird strike could disable both engines as well as mechanical systems used to lower landing gear. Videos showed the jet’s landing gear wasn’t deployed as the plane skidded down the runway.