South Korea’s Jeju Air crash: flight data recorder loses critical component

A device that could shed light on South Korea’s deadliest plane crash is missing a critical component, authorities have revealed, potentially delaying the investigation into the cause of the accident that killed 179 people.

The flight data recorder, which tracks aircraft parameters such as altitude and airspeed among others, is one of the two “black boxes” that South Korean investigators retrieved from the wreckage of Jeju Air Co. plane that exploded at Muan International Airport on Sunday morning.

The FDR lost a connector that links the data storage unit to the power storage unit, a senior transport ministry official said.

“An expert is continuously looking for ways to restore the data inside the recorder,” Deputy Minister for Civil Aviation Joo Jong-wan said at a briefing on Tuesday. The ministry will try to resolve the issue “as soon as possible,” Joo said, without clarifying how long it would take.

Authorities secured another piece of evidence, called the cockpit voice recorder, which records radio transmissions and pilot’s voices, as well as engine noises.

The two devices will be checked by a joint investigation group starting on Tuesday, comprising of US aviation authorities and officials from Boeing Co., the manufacturer of the 737-800 plane, Joo said.

  

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