Jeju Air disaster investigation reveals key details

[Anchor]

Hello everyone.

This is the special KBS 9 o'clock news on Jan. 1, 2025.

The new year of 2025 has begun amid difficult situations both domestically and internationally.

There are many voices expressing anxiety and concern.

However, now is the time for us to believe in our potential and take on challenges.

I hope that 2025 will be a year of brilliant turnaround by turning crises into opportunities.

On the first day of the new year, amidst the impeachment political situation, we bring you a special 9 o'clock news from a special studio with a view of the National Assembly.

Before we get to the political news, let's first look at the breaking news regarding the Jeju Air passenger plane disaster.

From the landing permission to the collision, details of what happened during the last 9 minutes are gradually being confirmed.

Among the black boxes that will reveal the cause of the accident, all data has been extracted from the voice recorder.

However, the flight data recorder needs to be sent to the United States for analysis.

Reporter Lee Kwang-yeol has the report.

[Report]

After receiving landing permission at 8:54, a bird strike warning (57) and the captain's mayday declaration (59) occurred, followed by an urgent attempt to land the aircraft on its belly in the opposite direction of the original landing path, resulting in a collision with a wall.

The last 9 minutes of the accident aircraft's trajectory leave many questions at every moment.

In the meantime, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport confirmed that the air traffic controller gave final permission for the aircraft to change its landing direction and attempt to land.

[Yoo Kyung-soo/Director of Aviation Safety Policy, Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport: "Landing on the runway can only occur with final air traffic controller permission, so we have confirmed that there was final air traffic controller permission amidst various unstable situations during communication."]

Photos of the recovered black box have also been released.

While the voice recorder was found in good condition, the flight data recorder was found separated from the power supply unit due to the missing connector.

Without the connector, analysis cannot be conducted, so it has been decided to send it to the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board for analysis.

[Joo Jong-wan/Director of Aviation Policy, Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport: "We are aware that there has been a technical review regarding whether we can find any alternative connectors and whether, even if we find them, we can connect them functionally perfectly."]

It usually takes about 6 months, but the accident investigation committee explained that they are negotiating with the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board to complete the investigation within one to two months due to the seriousness of the matter.

Data extraction from the voice recorder has already been completed, and the conversion of the voice files is about to begin.

This work is expected to be completed by Friday.

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport stated that they are still reviewing foreign regulations regarding potential violations related to the localizer and landing guidance safety facilities beyond the runway at Muan Airport.

This is KBS News, Lee Kwang-yeol.