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The preliminary accident report released by South Korea's
Aviation and Railway Accident Investigation Board on Monday said
that feathers and bird blood stains were found in both engines.
“The samples were sent to specialized organizations for DNA
analysis, and a domestic organization identified them as
belonging to Baikal teals,” the report said, referring to a
migratory duck.
The report also said the plane's two black boxes — the flight
data recorder and cockpit voice recorder — stopped recording
about 4 minutes before the crash. This could complicate efforts
to find the cause of the crash.
The Boeing 737-800 skidded off the runaway at Muan International
Airport on Dec. 29 after its landing gear failed to deploy,
slamming into a concrete structure and bursting into flames. The
flight was returning from Bangkok and all of the victims were
South Koreans except for two Thai nationals.
Many analysts said the concrete structure, which housed a set of
antennas called a localizer that guides aircraft during
landings, should have been built with lighter materials that
could break more easily upon impact. South Korea's Transport
Ministry announced last week that it will remove the concrete
structure at the airport.
Investigators earlier said that air traffic controllers warned
the pilots about possible bird strikes two minutes before the
aircraft issued a distress signal confirming that a bird strike
had occurred, after which the pilots attempted an emergency
landing.
The preliminary report said the pilots also noticed a group of
birds while approaching the runway at the Muan airport and that
a security camera filmed the plane coming close to birds during
an aborted landing as well.
The report said authorities will disassemble the engines,
examine their components in depth, analyze the black box and air
traffic control data, and investigate the embankment, localizer
and bird strike evidence.
“These all-out investigation activities aim to accurately
determine the cause of the accident,” the report said.
The Transport Ministry said the preliminary report has been sent
to the International Civil Aviation Organization, Thailand, the
United States and France. It said the plane was built in the
U.S. and its engines in France.
It said the Muan airport will remain closed until April 18.
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