Jeju Air plane crash: Black boxes of flight missing final four minutes of data

While the explosion occurred at 9:03 am on December 29, FDR and CVR ceased recording data starting at 8:59 am, making it challenging for investigators to analyse the situation

Seoul: The black boxes of the Jeju Air Co. passenger plane involved in last month’s fatal crash has been found to lack data from the final four minutes before the explosion, according to investigative authorities on Saturday.

According to South Korean authorities, an analysis by the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) of the flight data recorder (FDR) and cockpit voice recorder (CVR) from the B737-800 aircraft showed that recordings stopped on both devices approximately four minutes before the aircraft collided with a localiser structure.

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The explosion occurred at 9:03 am on December 29, 2024, when the Jeju Air flight struck a concrete mound housing localiser equipment at the end of Muan International Airport after skidding without its landing gear open. The FDR and CVR ceased recording data starting at 8:59 am, making it challenging for investigators to analyse the situation.

Authorities said that while FDR and CVR data are critical for investigations, they are not the sole sources of evidence. “The investigation involves analysing various sources of information, including air traffic control records, video footage of the crash and debris from the site,” they said.

The black box components were sent to the NTSB in Washington last week for cross-verification to ensure data reliability. South Korean investigators dispatched to the NTSB are set to return to Korea on Monday to continue their probe at home. Earlier on January 7, South Korea’s government had excluded former and current senior officials from participating in an investigation into the recent Jeju Air plane crash to avoid conflicts of interest and ensure a fair and objective probe, the Transport Minister said.

Transport Minister Park Sang-woo had announced the plan to exclude such figures from the Aviation and Railway Accident Investigation Board, which was tasked with investigating the fatal December 29 crash that had claimed 179 lives.

“To clearly determine the cause of the accident, we will continue the investigation in compliance with international norms and domestic laws to ensure fairness,” Park had said during a press briefing held at the government complex in the central city of Sejong. Park had explained that Chang Man-hee, chairman of the board and a former ministry official, and Joo Jong-wan, head of the ministry’s aviation policy office serving as a standing board member, had been excluded from all board activities.

Furthermore, Park had said that data transcription of the cockpit voice recorder from the crashed B737-800 aircraft had been completed and that the separate flight data recorder from the plane had been transported to the United States for analysis.