Jeju Air Investigation Committee Turns from ‘Bird Strike’ to ‘Contact’, Korean Media Manipulates ‘Confirmation of Collision’

Jeju Air Investigation Committee Turns from ‘Bird Strike’ to ‘Contact’, Korean Media Manipulates ‘Confirmation of Collision’

The government investigation committee of the Muan Airport Jeju Air disaster initially defined it as a ‘bird strike’ but then made a sharp turn to ‘contact’, and the Korean media manipulated it to ‘confirmation of bird strike’.

The investigation committee used a unique Korean manipulation technique of holding a ‘family briefing’ briefing instead of an official briefing, and on the 25th, in order to focus domestic attention on the ‘bird strike’ against the Korean media, excluding ‘landing gear’ and changing the weight of the investigation to ‘black box failure’ and adding ‘several months’.

The investigation committee maintained its position, reporting that the reason the plane landed without lowering its landing gear that day was likely related to the bird strike that occurred during the go-around. On the other hand, the investigation committee changed the existing ‘bird strike’ to ‘bird contact’ at the bereaved family briefing session, stating that “there was a bird contact during the go-around between the pilots’ conversation and the black box recording being stopped” and that it was a ‘flight failure during the re-ascent’.

This means that it must explain that the ‘black box stop’ accident occurred while the engine was accelerating for a re-landing, but the investigation committee pushed ‘bird contact’ out of the ‘cause of the accident’ as an indirect factor, saying, “further investigation is needed to determine whether the bird contact that occurred during the go-around and the landing gear not working were related.”

The investigation committee avoided explaining the ‘investigation process’ regarding the abnormal state of the landing gear not working during the landing attempt after the control tower gave permission for the first landing. Since the altitude during the go-around was around 150m, the state of the ‘landing gear’ during the first landing attempt seems to be the first priority for investigation by the control tower and the government.

The accident plane's black box stopped working just before the mayday declaration during the unusual time of the return flight, and domestic experts consistently claimed that "the engine stopped due to a bird strike, power was cut off, and the black box was shut off," and the government and the investigation committee repeated this process.
It seems impossible for a large passenger plane like the Boeing 737 to re-ascend and turn  360 degrees with all engines stopped, and it is normal for Korean experts and the investigation committee to explain the "engine stop and re-ascension" to the bereaved families.

Reuters, which raised questions about the Korean announcement, reported on the 25th that "According to the statement, the pilots discussed the bird flight during the Boeing 737-800 landing at 8:58:11 a.m., declared a mayday at 08:58:56, and reported that there was a bird strike while the plane was returning. The airport CCTV footage reportedly showed the plane ‘contacting’ birds while returning, and the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport previously stated that the pilots sent a distress signal due to a bird strike before flying, revealing the discrepancy with the previous announcement on the 7th.

Reuters requested a comment from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport on this, and a Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport official told Reuters, “The surveillance camera footage was taken from too far away to confirm whether there was a spark due to a bird strike,” but added, “The exact time is unclear, but we have confirmed that the plane made contact with the bird.”
The National Intelligence Service intentionally avoided the most sensitive issue of the day, “Cross-explanation of the time the black box stopped and the time of the go-around and mayday declaration,” and used a deliberate manipulation technique to prepare for the situation where the plane had already descended and landed, saying, “The black box recording stopped 4 minutes and 7 seconds before the accident passenger plane collided with the localizer installed at Muan Airport,” and the media reported this as the main fact.

Yonhap News reported, “Black box stopped 1 minute after bird warning… <Bird collision confirmed> The title is ‘Bird collision confirmed’ and the article is <The closed-circuit television (CCTV) at the airport confirmed that the pilot of the accident plane made contact with a flock of birds while shouting ‘mayday’ and making a return flight. Feathers and blood traces of the ‘Bayside duck’, the most common winter migratory bird in Korea, were found on both engines of the accident plane>, making ‘contact’ and ‘discovery of blood traces’ ‘confirmation of collision’.

KBS reported under the title <The bird that collided with the Jeju Air accident plane was a ‘Bayside duck’> that <According to the initial investigation results of the Jeju Air passenger plane disaster, the bird that collided with the aircraft was found to be a Bayside duck> and <The black box of the accident plane was turned off 1 minute after receiving a warning about bird activity from the control tower. (Omitted) The actual collision occurred 1 minute after the warning about bird collision, and it is presumed that the recording device also turned off. Immediately after, the pilot made a return flight and declared an emergency due to a bird collision and issued a mayday to the control tower>.

On that day, most of the articles emphasized the fact that “birds collided with aircraft” by saying, “The investigation team found bird feathers and blood traces on both sides of the damaged aircraft engine. Genetic analysis results showed that the bird that collided with the aircraft was a mallard.”

Money Today reported, “Bird strike marks were found on both engines of the Jeju Air passenger plane that crashed at Muan Airport, which claimed 179 lives. It was revealed that a mallard, a representative winter migratory bird in Korea, collided with the passenger plane.” and “The passenger plane then flew over the left side of the runway for about 4 minutes before turning to land in the opposite direction and attempting to land on the runway. The landing gear did not come down at the time of landing, and the fuselage landed and took off.”

Earlier, on the 7th, Lee Seung-ryeol, the head of the accident investigation team at the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, arbitrarily announced a “bird strike,” and Reuters responded to this announcement by stating, “The landing gear malfunction was unrelated to the bird strike,” showing “investigative violations” in obstructing the aviation investigation.

Reuters reported on the 8th, “Senior investigator Lee Seung-yeol said feathers were found in one of the engines recovered from the accident site, adding that video footage showed a bird strike in one of the engines,” and “Experts say bird strikes do not typically cause landing gear malfunctions.”

Reuters continued, “It is still unknown why the aircraft did not deploy its landing gear and why the pilots declared an emergency after telling air traffic control that the plane had suffered a bird strike and attempted a second landing,” and “Experts say bird strikes do not typically cause landing gear malfunctions.”

 

The way the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport-led investigation team and investigation committee announced the results of their investigation to find evidence of a bird strike is a typical example of a psychological warfare technique that has been used to instill in the bereaved families of the country, who have been unable to approach international aviation accident verification from the beginning, an 'indirect announcement of the accident investigation' to the Korean media, concealing the fact that the aircraft investigation results would come out 6-8 months later and making the Korean people perceive it as a 'bird strike Jeju Air disaster'.

 

The government investigation team's main goal was to 'investigate bird collisions', and the media's reporting on the disaster was its 'extended reproduction'.

 

MBC reported under the title <Both engines have 'Mugwort feathers and bloodstains'... First investigation results> that the anchor directly stated <Jeju Air passenger plane accident, the bird that collided with the plane was confirmed to be a mugwort> and <The situation just before the collision was also revealed in more detail, and the black box of the accident plane was turned off just 1 minute after receiving instructions to be careful of bird activity>.

‘Nocut News’ reported under the title <Not a bird collision and a return, but a 'bird collision while returning to avoid the bird'> that <It was initially assumed that the accident plane returned to the plane after colliding with the bird, but it is now more likely that it returned to the plane while trying to avoid the collision after seeing the bird below during landing>.

The article continued, <According to the data released by the accident investigation committee, the pilots had a conversation about a bird below the plane at around 8:58:11 while receiving landing permission from the control tower and proceeding with landing. After about 40 seconds, the black box recording stopped, and it was 6 seconds later that the pilot declared a mayday to the control tower due to a bird strike. At the time, it was reported that the pilot shouted mayday to the control tower three times, reported the bird strike as the reason, and informed the control tower that he was currently going around, saying "going around." In other words, it is presumed that he attempted a go-around to urgently avoid a bird strike during landing, suffered a bird strike during the process, and after taking emergency measures for a few seconds, declared a mayday to the control tower.

 

For aircraft whose advanced precision and autonomous flight systems rely on only a very small number of ‘sensors’, the ‘crash accident investigation’ is conducted in accordance with <Annex 13 of the Convention on International Civil Aviation>.
The Aviation Convention states that “the final report, including all safety recommendations, is made public in the country where the investigation was conducted, and aims to improve aviation safety, without shifting responsibility,” and that ‘shifting responsibility’ is a violation in accident investigations.

Refer to <Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport Director Lee Seung-yeol ‘Bird Strike’ Reuters ‘Landing Gear Unrelated’ Muan Airport Accident Investigation Violation, January 8, 2025>