Questions about the concrete wall where the Jeju Air plane crashed
Questions are increasingly being raised about the existence of a concrete wall at the airport where the Jeju Air plane crashed.
According to Yonhap, many questions have been raised about the existence of a concrete wall at the airport where the Jeju Air plane crashed upon landing. And whether the absence of the concrete wall could have prevented the high number of casualties in the accident.
On December 29, a plane operated by low-cost airline Jeju Air belly-landed at Muan International Airport in the western part of the country, 288 kilometers from Seoul, before overshooting the runway and exploding when it crashed into a concrete wall, killing 179 of the 181 people on board.
This concrete structure houses the ILS landing guidance system, known as a localizer, and is located about 250 meters from the end of the runway.
The 2 meter high concrete wall is covered with earth, including the height of the ILS, the total height of the wall is 4 meters. This wall was built when the ILS was replaced last year.
Airport officials said that because the ground at the end of the runway is tilted, a large mound of earth had to be built and a 2-meter high concrete wall built on it to place the ILS landing guidance tower to ensure normal operation of the machine.
Some experts and observers have raised questions about the concrete wall and whether more lives could have been saved if it had not been there, as the plane slid about 1,600 meters down the runway before hitting the structure.
"I've seen many ILS systems at many airports but this is the first time I've seen a structure like this," said one pilot, who asked not to be named, referring to the localizer. "Even if you wanted to make the ILS system higher, you wouldn't need to build a concrete wall."
The South Korean Transport Ministry said in a press conference that the positioning system was installed about 251 meters from the runway and some other airports in the country have also installed the device using concrete structures.
The report also pointed out that other airports abroad also use concrete for such structures.
Authorities are currently investigating the exact cause of the accident.
According to the South Korean Ministry of Transport, the bodies of 141 of the 179 people killed in the accident have been identified.
