South Korea Plane Crash

[DrewPaul]

The only known cause is the failure to lower the landing gear. They aborted their first attempt to land. A bird strike alarm went off. Probably will be several months before a comprehensive report is available.

The two female survivors were seriously wounded but not believed to be life threatening. Broken bones and ribs. Neither one can recall anything one of them asked why she was in the hospital and what happened. They were both flight attendants sitting in the extreme back of the plane which probably saved their lives. I imagine there might be some surviving family members who might be a dad bit angry that they survived. Human nature. They will probably have deep survivors guilt. Its hard for me to imagine not being happy I'm alive but apparently it is a very real thing. They'll start getting some memory back in dreams. Somehow the brain deals with trauma that way. It will be a life altering event. Life before and now life after.

 

[dmpi]

'Forgetting' might be a defense mechanism to deal with severe trauma. Notice that none of us have memories of being born and our very early childhood.

 

[dseag2]

Just a very sad situation and the two women who lived should not feel survivor's guilt but instead strive to contribute as much as they can to society since they were given more time on the earth.

 

[EdwinWillers]

The only known cause is the failure to lower the landing gear. They aborted their first attempt to land. A bird strike alarm went off. Probably will be several months before a comprehensive report is available.

The two female survivors were seriously wounded but not believed to be life threatening. Broken bones and ribs. Neither one can recall anything one of them asked why she was in the hospital and what happened. They were both flight attendants sitting in the extreme back of the plane which probably saved their lives. I imagine there might be some surviving family members who might be a dad bit angry that they survived. Human nature. They will probably have deep survivors guilt. Its hard for me to imagine not being happy I'm alive but apparently it is a very real thing. They'll start getting some memory back in dreams. Somehow the brain deals with trauma that way. It will be a life altering event. Life before and now life after.

Very difficult situation to assess. Makes no sense that their landing gear wasn't down OR that their flaps weren't down either. They landed really fast. It looked like one of the engines might have been compromised (bird strike?) as well. Plus, to make matters worse, there was that berm at the end of the runway for heaven knows why - and that's the real reason the plane blew up.

 

[Sabre]

Very difficult situation to assess. Makes no sense that their landing gear wasn't down OR that their flaps weren't down either. They landed really fast. It looked like one of the engines might have been compromised (bird strike?) as well. Plus, to make matters worse, there was that berm at the end of the runway for heaven knows why - and that's the real reason the plane blew up.

In addition to the landing gear and flaps, the speed brakes were not deployed and they touched down just beyond the halfway point of the runway. Hopefully the black box did survive and can be located in all that wreckage, but from what I have seen that is very iffy. One engine evidently take in a bird causing loss of that engine but, the Boeing 737-800 is designed to fly on one engine.

 

[Integrityrespec]

In addition to the landing gear and flaps, the speed brakes were not deployed and they touched down just beyond the halfway point of the runway. Hopefully the black box did survive and can be located in all that wreckage, but from what I have seen that is very iffy. One engine evidently take in a bird causing loss of that engine but, the Boeing 737-800 is designed to fly on one engine.

Sounds like a deliberate attempt to crash on landing. All those things have warning systems so the pilot or pilots had to have known.
For those who fly and for those afraid to fly here are some stats.
The number of commercial airline flights per day varies depending on the source, but here are some estimates:

• US: The US aviation system handles around 45,000 flights and 2.9 million passengers each day.
  
  
• Global: The average number of commercial flights per day is 101,460.
  
  
• Record-breaking day: FlightRadar24 reported a record-breaking 134,386 commercial flights on July 6, 2023.
• 
  
• The commercial aviation industry suffered 30 total accidents in 2023, an improvement from 42 accidents in 2022. The all accident rate decreased from 1.30 per million sectors in 2022 to 0.80 in 2023. Overall, there was an average of one accident for every 880,293 flights.

NTSB’s 2001 Safety Report​

The 2001 NTSB safety report showed that between 1983 and 2000, about 95% of Part 121 aircraft occupants involved in accidents survived. The safety report also examined a smaller subset of Part 121 passenger flight accidents that occurred in the United States and included all of the following:

• a precrash or postcrash fire
• at least one serious injury or fatality
• a substantially damaged or destroyed aircraft

Of the occupants involved in that smaller subset of serious accidents, more than half survived.

According to most safety statistics, flying on a commercial airplaneis considered the safest mode of transportation, with the lowest accident rates compared to other forms of travel like cars, buses, or trains.

 

[DrewPaul]

In addition to the landing gear and flaps, the speed brakes were not deployed and they touched down just beyond the halfway point of the runway. Hopefully the black box did survive and can be located in all that wreckage, but from what I have seen that is very iffy. One engine evidently take in a bird causing loss of that engine but, the Boeing 737-800 is designed to fly on one engine.

And a bird strike should have no effect on landing gear, flaps or speed brakes. It will probably involve pilot error.

 

[EdwinWillers]

In addition to the landing gear and flaps, the speed brakes were not deployed and they touched down just beyond the halfway point of the runway. Hopefully the black box did survive and can be located in all that wreckage, but from what I have seen that is very iffy. One engine evidently take in a bird causing loss of that engine but, the Boeing 737-800 is designed to fly on one engine.

I watched an aviation expert's analysis (sorry, forgot the link) who also mentioned the speed brakes. He also noted how far down the runway the jet touched down, suggesting ground effect (laminar layer of air just above ground which provides optimum lift), that the pilot might not have been taking that into consideration. And you're right, the plane was clearly flying ok on one engine - it did look in fact to be flying fine.

The big question seems to be the embankment at the end of the runway. Had that not been there, all other factors remaining the same, the plane might not have suffered such serious results.

 

[DrewPaul]

The big question seems to be the embankment at the end of the runway. Had that not been there, all other factors remaining the same, the plane might not have suffered such serious results.

We always close the gate after all the horses are let out...

 

[EdwinWillers]

We always close the gate after all the horses are let out...

Sorry, I'm missing the reference.

 

[DrewPaul]

Sorry, I'm missing the reference.

We fail to do things that should have been done sooner to prevent a tragedy. Instead we do them afterwards.

 

[DrewPaul]

Now they'll probably put in a gravel runaway at the end of the tar runway.

 

[EdwinWillers]

We fail to do things that should have been done sooner to prevent a tragedy. Instead we do them afterwards.

Ah, yep. Hindsight...