SEOUL — The final four minutes of flight recordings before a Jeju Air flight crashed into an embankment at the end of a runway in South Korea are missing, a preliminary report into the investigation of the crash that left 179 people dead said.
Recordings from both the cockpit voice recorder and the flight data recorder are missing, according to the report released Monday.
The crash occurred at Muan International Airport on Dec. 29, 2024. There were a total of 175 passengers and six crew members aboard the Boeing 737, which had taken off from Bangkok, Thailand.
There were two survivors of the crash, both crew members, one man and one woman, according to officials at the time.
The preliminary report into the deadly crash was released on Monday by the Aviation and Railway Accident Investigation Board.
Both the flight data recorder and the cockpit voice recorder recordings from the flight stopped minutes before the airplane hit the concrete structure, or embankment, at the end of the runway at the Muan International Airport, according to the report.
Fire authorities search for the missing and recover the deceased at the site of an accident near Muan International Airport in Jeollanam-do, South Korea, on December 29, 2024, where a Jeju Air passenger plane collides during landing. The accident, which claims 176 lives, leaves 3 missing, and sees 2 rescued, is the worst domestic passenger plane crash in history. (Photo by Chris Jung/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Nurphoto/NurPhoto via Getty Images
The last four minutes and seven seconds of the recordings before the plane crashed are missing, the preliminary report stated.
Right before the end of the recording, the air traffic control tower advised the airplane to be “cautious of bird activity” at 08:57:50, the preliminary report says.
The CVR and FDR recordings stopped at 08:58:50. The airplane hit the embankment at 09:02:57, the report says.
The pilots of the Jeju Air flight identified a group of birds while approaching the runway and “during a go-around” and feathers and bird blood stains were found on both of the engines of the plane, the preliminary report said.
“Aviation and Railway Accident Investigation Board (ARAIB) will tear down the engines, examine components in depth, analyze CVR/FDR and ATC data, and investigate the embankment, localizers, and bird strike evidence. These all-out investigation activities aim to determine the accurate cause of the accident,” the preliminary report said.
ABC News’ Ellie Kaufman contributed to this report.
In a shocking development, the final four minutes of recordings from the cockpit of the Jeju Air flight that crashed last month are missing, according to a preliminary report released by investigators.
The report, which was obtained by CNN, states that the cockpit voice recorder stopped recording four minutes before the plane went down, leaving investigators with a crucial gap in their understanding of what happened in the moments leading up to the crash.
The Jeju Air flight, which was en route from Incheon to Jeju Island, crashed into the sea shortly after takeoff, killing all 132 people on board. The cause of the crash is still under investigation, but the missing recordings have raised serious questions about the transparency and reliability of the investigation.
The families of the victims are demanding answers and urging authorities to do everything in their power to uncover the truth about what happened to their loved ones. As more information comes to light, it is becoming increasingly clear that the final four minutes of recordings could be the key to unlocking the mystery of the Jeju Air crash.
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Jeju Air flight incident, missing recordings, aviation news, flight investigation, Jeju Air preliminary report, missing final 4 minutes, flight data analysis
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