Jeju Air Crash Caused by Pilot Mistake, Says Korean Investigation Board

South Korea’s Aviation and Railway Accident Investigation Board (ARAIB) has said that the crash of a Jeju Air flight at Muan International Airport in December 2024 was caused by the pilot mistakenly turning off the wrong engine.

The crash killed 179 people. The investigation found that after one of the plane’s engines (the right one) was damaged by a bird strike, the pilot accidentally shut down the other engine (the left one), which was still working. This mistake caused the plane to lose all power, making it impossible to land safely.

ARAIB shared this information with victims’ families at a meeting on July 19. However, the board cancelled its public press briefing after families strongly objected. One family member said the board was blaming the pilot and ignoring other possible causes, like poor runway conditions or mechanical problems.

The investigation revealed that the pilot stated he was shutting down engine number two, which was the damaged right engine. However, he actually shut down engine number one, the functioning left engine. The voice recordings and flight data did not match.

Experts found no technical problems with the left engine. The shutdown was done manually by the pilot, who also used the fire extinguisher on it. This made it impossible to restart that engine during the flight. The right engine, damaged by birds, was already not working, so this led to total engine failure.

The plane hit a flock of wild ducks just before landing. Air traffic control had warned of bird activity, and a minute later the pilot reported a bird strike. Flames were seen coming from the right engine. Duck feathers and blood were later found in both engines.

At first, it was believed both engines were damaged by the birds. But now it’s clear the left engine stopped because of pilot error.

Also, the landing gear was not lowered. The board will look further into whether the pilots were properly trained to handle such emergencies.

Victims’ families are unhappy with the report. They say too much blame is being placed on the pilots. They also claim the concrete slope at the end of the runway made the crash worse.

The Jeju Air pilots' union also criticized the investigation, saying it is unfair to blame only the pilots and not look into mistakes by the airport authorities or the government. The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport and the Korea Airports Corporation are still being investigated by police.