The wreckage of Jeju Air flight 7C 2216 is seen at Muan Worldwide Airport in South Jeolla Province on Monday. (Yonhap through The Korea Herald/Asia Information Community)
Sunday’s lethal airplane crash set off a wave of concern over birds disrupting the secure operations of flights, with a fowl strike suspected because the attainable trigger behind one of many deadliest aviation tragedies in South Korean historical past.
Within the aftermath of Jeju Air flight 7C 2216’s crash, it was revealed {that a} government-commissioned report in 2020 had warned the federal government of fowl strike points for Muan Worldwide Airport in South Jeolla Province, the positioning of the accident that left 179 useless of the 181 passengers and crew.
The report specified there may be “substantial hazard of fowl strike when an airplane takes off or lands” on the airport, and referred to as for a measure to scale back such dangers. The report was carried out to judge the environmental results of a authorities plan to increase the airport’s runway from 2,800 meters to three,160 meters by 2025.
READ: All however 2 feared useless after South Korea airplane crashes with 181 aboard
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It specified that Muan Worldwide Airport is close to the identified habitat of migrating birds, and that the newly prolonged runway overlaps with the birds’ migration route. The analysis revealed that three identified habitats have been adjoining to the airport, with two on-site inspections discovering 1,278 birds and 1,760 birds within the space, respectively.
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Muan will not be the one airport close to habitats of migrating birds, as comparable points ail Gimpo Worldwide Airport in Seoul, Busan’s Gimhae Worldwide Airport and even Incheon Airport, the principle gateway to the nation.
This is because of the truth that birds choose areas which can be optimum for long-distance flight, which coincides with being appropriate for business flight, based on a 2020 Korea Surroundings Institute report on danger administration for fowl and airplane collisions.
“Airplanes and birds share a typical trait of ‘flight,’ which suggests an optimum place for an airport can also be an optimum place for (migratory) birds to reside,” the report said.
READ: What we learn about Jeju Air airplane crash in South Korea
Some portion of the land the place Incheon Airport is situated was once mudflats, populated by many migrating birds. As such, development of the airport confronted considerations about malicious results on the surroundings.
Over twenty years after the airport opened, birds and airplanes share the airspace over the airport, inflicting appreciable security danger.
Chook strikes on the rise
There was a rise within the variety of circumstances of birds colliding with airplanes lately.
Birds collided with airplanes in 623 events from 2019 to the primary half of this yr, based on authorities knowledge revealed by Rep. Jeon Yong-gi of the principle opposition Democratic Occasion of Korea. The quantity went from 108 in 2019 to 76 in 2020 — when air site visitors decreased drastically because of the COVID-19 pandemic — and rose again to 109 in 2021, earlier than additional rising to 131 in 2022 and 152 in 2023.
For Muan Worldwide Airport particularly, there have been 10 circumstances since 2019, not counting Sunday’s accident, the reason for which has not been confirmed but. It had among the many fewest fowl strikes out of all airports in South Korea, however its 11,004 flights in that interval have been additionally far fewer than different greater airports.
By proportion, 0.09 p.c of all flights at Muan Worldwide Airport have been topic to a fowl strike from 2019, which is the best out of all of the airports. As compared, flights at Jeju Worldwide Airport stood a 0.013 p.c change of colliding with a fowl, whereas Gimhae Worldwide Airport sat at 0.018 p.c in the identical interval.
Solely two of the confirmed fowl strike circumstances this yr throughout the nation had really led to any damages, and each circumstances had no related deaths, based on Korea Airports Corp. However fowl strikes might utterly cripple a airplane, as evidenced by the 2009 midair collision of US Airways flight 1549 with a flock of birds in New York, higher often known as the “Miracle on the Hudson” that ended with pilot “Sully” Sullenberger touchdown the airplane with no fatalaties on the Hudson River.
A mourner cries whereas paying respects to victims of Sunday’s Jeju Air flight 7C 2216 crash, at a joint memorial in Muan, South Jeolla Province, Monday. (Yonhap through The Korea Herald/Asia Information Community)
Not sufficient monitoring for fowl strikes at Muan?
Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport rules state {that a} single runway operated for 9 hours or much less requires a minimal of 4 officers for the aim of stopping fowl strikes by shooing away close by birds. A business airport with fewer than 5,000 flights a yr can cut back that quantity to 2, as within the case of Muan Worldwide Airport.
However the Herald Enterprise newspaper reported that just one individual was engaged on fowl strike prevention duties at Muan on the time of the accident. A Korea Airports Corp. report reveals that the airport has 4 folks for the job, divided into three groups working in shifts.
The variety of officers allotted to fowl strike prevention duties on the airport in Muan is considerably smaller than the reported 40 at Incheon, 23 at Gimpo and 20 on Jeju Island.
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The Transportation Ministry is presently conducting an investigation into figuring out the precise trigger behind the crash of Jeju Air flight 7C 2216, which killed 179 of the 181 folks onboard. Whereas it’s unclear if a fowl strike was liable for the crash, probably lax fowl monitoring at Muan Worldwide Airport is suspected of contributing to the tragedy.
