Authorities forced a Jeju Air flight from Seoul on Monday to return after encountering a landing gear problem. This happened a day after South Korea’s most deadly plane crash. The Boeing 737-800 involved in the latest incident was the same model as the Jeju Air plane that crashed on Sunday killing 179 people.
Jeju Air Flight 7C101, which departed Seoul’s Gimpo International Airport for Jeju island “at around 6:37 am, returned to Gimpo at 7:25 am” was detected shortly after takeoff due to a landing gear issue.
“Shortly after takeoff, a signal indicating a landing gear issue was detected on the aircraft’s monitoring system,” Song Kyung-hoon, head of the management support office at Jeju Air, told a news conference.
Read more: At Least 167 Killed in Jeju Air Plane Crash at South Korea Airport
“At 6:57 am, the captain communicated with ground control and after taking additional measures, the landing gear returned to normal operation. However, the decision was made to return to the airport for a thorough inspection of the aircraft.”
Local media reported that 21 passengers chose not to board an alternate flight to Jeju, citing concerns over safety. Jeju Air’s 41-plane fleet includes 39 Boeing 737-800 aircraft.
Special Inspection
Seoul said on Monday it would conduct a special inspection of all 101 Boeing 737-800 planes in operation in the country.
“We are reviewing plans to conduct a special inspection on B737-800 aircraft,” said Joo Jong-wan, head of the aviation policy bureau at the South Korean transport ministry.
Joo added that the government plans to “implement rigorous aviation safety inspections in response to the (landing gear) incidents.” In Sunday’s crash at Muan, the Boeing 737 800 carrying 181 people from Thailand to South Korea made a mayday call and belly-landed before crashing into a barrier and bursting into flames. The explosion killed everyone on board except two flight attendants who were pulled from the wreckage.
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