Boeing (BA, Financial) shares tumbled 4% on Monday following a report that investigators are probing a bird strike and malfunctioning landing gear as causes of South Korea's worst civil aviation accident. A Boeing 737-800 operated by Jeju Air crashed early Sunday morning at Muan International Airport. Sadly, of 181 passengers on board, only two of the flight attendants survived, and 179 of the passengers died.
It skidded along the runway belly-in and collided with a wall, catching fire. The data recorder was damaged, which could slow the analysis of the wrecked aircraft's mechanical data; however, investigators have recovered both flight data and cockpit voice recorders from the debris.
Some of the video footage was shot as the plane made its approach, taken from one of the engines seeming to flame out. Clips show the plane sliding along the runway at high speed, more or less intact before the crash. Authorities are looking at whether safety operation protocols were followed, bird strike prevention measures at the airport, and whether the aircraft's power system was shut down before impact.
The localizer—the system by which aircraft are aided in landing—will also be an element of the investigation. Coming days, the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board officials are set to join South Korean investigators. While the findings will help the authorities to make sense of what happened in the chain of events that led to the tragedy, all the pieces of information contained in the black boxes are being put under the scanner.
