South Korea to release preliminary report of Jeju Air crash by Monday

Investigation into Jeju Air crash focuses on bird strike, preliminary report to be released by South Korea.

South Korea will release by Monday (January 27, 2025) a preliminary report on last month's Jeju Air plane crash that killed 179 people, the deadliest air disaster on the nation's soil, the Transport Ministry said on Saturday, January 25, 2025.

One area under investigation is what role a bird strike played in the December 29 crash of flight 7C2216 as it arrived at Muan International Airport from Bangkok, according to a Ministry statement.

The report will be sent to the International Civil Aviation Organization as well as the United States, France and Thailand, the Ministry said. Seoul has been cooperating with investigators from the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board and France's Bureau of Enquiry and Analysis for Civil Aviation Safety.

It will take several months to analyse and verify flight data and cockpit voice recordings, which stopped recording four minutes and seven seconds before the crash, and communication recordings with the control tower, the ministry said.

At 08:58:11 a.m., the pilots discussed birds flying under the Boeing 737-800, then declared mayday at 08:58:56, reporting a bird strike while the plane was on a go-around, the statement said. Airport CCTV footage also showed the plane making "contact" with birds during the go-around, it said.

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Previously the Ministry had said the pilots issued the distress signal due to bird strikes before going around.