Posted on 12/31/2024 3:17:47 AM PST by Libloather
Aviation experts are raising serious questions about a curious concrete wall near the end of an airport runway in South Korea — after a catastrophic crash killed 179 people on board a Jeju Air flight on Sunday.
The Boeing 737 jet erupted in a fireball — killing all but two people on board Flight 7C2216 — after it skidded off the end of the runway at Muan International Airport and slammed into the structure.
Air safety specialists are now questioning why it was there at all.
David Learmount, a former pilot and flying instructor for the UK’s Royal Air Force, said he had “never seen anything like this.”
“Not only is there no justification [for it to be there], I think it’s verging on criminal to have it there,” Learmount, who is now operations and safety editor of Flight International magazine, told Sky News.
“To have a hard object about 200 meters [about 660ft] or less into the overrun, I’ve never seen anything like this anywhere ever before,” he added. The structure was located about 820ft off the end of the runway.
**SNIP**
Ju Jong-wan, director of the Aviation Policy Division at South Korea’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, explained to the New York Times that the structure was built to install the so-called localizer antenna, which helps enable the pilot to maintain the correct approach path.
He insisted that it was built according to regulations and that similar walls were found in other airports in South Korea.
However, Hwang Ho-won, chairman of the Korea Association for Aviation Security, told the outlet that if the antenna had been made of a different material, the tragedy might have been avoided.
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
The EMAS’s at Midway will stop you before you hit any houses unless your speed exiting the runway is grossly excessive (over 80 mph).
Like Trump said, the two things that always work are walls and wheels.
The FAA regulations only apply to US civilian airports and those duel civilian/military use airports
Sounds like they know where to start dismantling.
Correct me if I'm wrong but EMAS works by entrapping the landing gear along under-deck lanes after the gear exceeds the deck pressure of the plates, but wouldn't completely stop a plane bellying in with the landing gear raised.
We’re talking Midway airport in Chicago.
And Midway atoll has been ours at least since WWII.
The wall was backed by a chain link fence topped with a roll of barbed/razor wire, as if it were a barrier defense. But easy to go around.
Good point. I don’t think that EMAS’s were ever tested with the gear retracted.
AVIATION PING!...................
A plane bellying in would crack a bunch of tiles but would be held up by the floor joists, and slide along top of them. Even if the joists also failed, the plane would slide across the top of the gravel.
“Flight 209 now arriving Gate 8, Gate 9, Gate 10...Gate 11, Gate 12, Gate 13.....”
“was suicidal”
I’m surprised this possibility has not been raised.
I watched a video on YT, that featured 3 pilots speculating .
One mentioned possible smoke in the cockpit due to bird strike, there have been similar cases . The bird strike damages the engine, their is oil associated with the engine that produces toxic smoke when heated , the smoke is then introduced inside the cockpit.
Further speculation as to toxic smoke as possibly why they did not manually release the landing gear .
“I’m surprised this possibility has not been raised.”
Not.
Yes, that is a good explanation. Although the EMAS might help just a little, it would not would not work as designed at all with the gear up.
Airport safety gurus are learning to install soft materials at the end of runways like what interstate builders do, to arrest runaway 18 wheeled tractor trailers that have lost their brakes during descent down a mountain or a steep sloped grade.
True dat’
Got it.
That is a Class C Airport (minimum Runway Safety Area (RSA) of 400ft) and both commercial runways a utilize the EMAS system.
Better to run off into the sea, or hit a wall?
In THIS case, probably none. Judge for yourself. That being said, were the aircraft’s trajectory not aligned with the runway, then all bets are off.
The aircraft was traveling in a straight line, same as the runway, and hit the ILS structure / earthen berm (concrete foundation) dead center. One could argue that were the berm absent, the aircraft in this case would have continued on a track straight out, as if it were an extension of the runway.
I’m trying to enter a hot link to an overhead view of the south end of the runway and the surrounding neighborhood/buildings, but my mouse isn’t cooperating or Google maps, which I am trying to link to, is blocking the attempt. I dropped the mouse rather violently on the floor so who knows?
Maybe someone else on the thread could get a working link pasted into a post, otherwise one can look it up using their own method or manner.
ANY AIRFIELD MANAGER THAT HAS A SIMILAR STRUCTURE AT THE END OF THEIR RUNWAY, AND DOESN’T DO SOMETHING TO MITIGATE THE DANGER, WHERE POSSIBLE, IS OPEN TO HAVING BLOOD ON THEIR HANDS, SHOULD SOMETHING LIKE THIS EVER HAPPEN AGAIN.
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