Families of the victims of South Korea’s deadliest aviation disaster on home soil have strongly denounced a preliminary government report blaming the crash on pilot error. The December 29, 2024, crash of a Jeju Air Boeing 737-800 at Muan Airport claimed the lives of 179 people and left the nation in mourning.
According to the families, the partial investigation findings, viewed by their representatives, claim that the aircraft experienced a bird strike to its right engine. However, investigators allege the pilot mistakenly shut down the functioning left engine, leading to a total power loss and a failure of the landing gear system, ultimately causing the plane to belly-land and crash into a concrete barrier in a fiery explosion.
The South Korean Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport had intended to publicly release the interim report over the weekend but postponed the briefing after the families raised strong objections, calling the findings premature and potentially misleading.
Kim Youn-mi, a spokesperson for the victims’ families, told AFP that they had not been provided full access to key evidence. “No one has directly seen or heard the cockpit voice recorder or the flight data recorder,” she said. “We weren’t given any proper explanation about those things. We need to hear that to know. We have the right.”
According to the report, the pilot was recorded saying, “Let’s shut down engine number 2 (the right engine),” but flight data indicated the left engine was shut down instead, a mistake that may have contributed significantly to the crash.
The Jeju Air pilots’ union also criticized the preliminary findings, accusing the government of a “malicious attempt to shift blame onto the pilot” and vowing to reject the conclusions unless further evidence supports them. “We are strongly angered by the report,” the union stated.
The investigation remains ongoing, with both South Korean and U.S. aviation authorities examining multiple possible factors, including bird strikes, bloodstains and feathers were found in both engines, as well as possible landing gear failure and questions about the integrity of the runway’s concrete barrier.
The final report on the crash is expected to be released in June 2026.
As the probe continues, grieving families are demanding full transparency and access to all investigative materials before any conclusions are drawn. “We lost loved ones,” said Kim. “We will not accept scapegoating without the truth.”
Written By Rodney Mbua
