SEOUL, July 21 — The interim findings into the Jeju Air Flight 2216 crash have triggered a wave of outrage from victims’ families, who accuse South Korean investigators of placing disproportionate blame on “dead birds and dead pilots” while sidestepping broader institutional failures. According to sources cited by international media, the report points to pilot error, indicating the crew may have mistakenly shut down the wrong engine of the Boeing 737-800 after a severe bird strike during final approach.
“It basically puts all the blame on the dead birds and the dead pilots,”
— Hwang Pill-kyu, legal representative for the families, told The Korea Times reporters on Saturday.
What Happened
On December 29, 2024, Jeju Air Flight 2216, a Boeing 737‑800 inbound from Bangkok, struck a flock of migratory ducks, believed to be Baikal teals, while approaching Muan International Airport.
The Aviation and Railway Accident Investigation Board (ARAIB) had planned to unveil its interim report at a press conference on Saturday. However, the event was abruptly cancelled after a private briefing with bereaved families triggered fierce backlash over findings that pointed to pilot error as the primary cause of the fatal crash.
Despite the cancellation, several outlets obtained details of the findings from sources familiar with the investigation. According to sources cited by Reuters and The New York Times, the pilots mistakenly shut down the less-damaged left engine instead of the severely damaged right engine, leaving the aircraft without effective thrust. The plane attempted a belly landing but overshot the runway, collided with a concrete embankment supporting the airport’s instrument landing system (ILS), and caught fire. 179 of the 181 people on board died.
No pre-existing defects were found in both engines.
Following the crash, South Korea decided to remove concrete embankments near runways at several airports.
Families Demand a Broader Probe
The Jeju Air victims’ families have rejected the ARAIB investigation’s narrow focus on pilot error and are demanding greater transparency, including the public release of flight recorder data and engine analysis, The Korea Times reports.
Contributing factors surrounding the crash, according to families and aviation experts, include:
- Runway infrastructure: The concrete structure hit by the plane raises questions about airport safety design.
- Wildlife control failures: Presence of migratory birds and high risk of bird strike at Muan Airport had reportedly been flagged multiple times before the crash.
The final report is on track to be published by June 2026.
Echoes from AI171: The Transparency Gap
The Jeju Air investigation has drawn comparisons to the Air India Flight AI171 crash in June 2025, where both engines failed shortly after takeoff. While final reports are still pending, early reporting raised the possibility that fuel cutoff switches may have been involved, prompting questions about cockpit actions. However, families and independent observers have cautioned against premature conclusions, urging a broader examination of aircraft systems.
In both cases, the common thread is a lack of transparency. When investigation details are withheld or selectively shared, it creates a vacuum that is quickly filled by speculation, distrust, and competing narratives. As we argued in our recent opinion piece on India’s AAIB and its lack of transparency in the case of Air India AI171 crash: when there’s a vacuum of information, speculation fills it.
Image: The Aviation and Railway Accident Investigation Board (ARAIB) Preliminary Report
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