Jeju Air black boxes ceased recording before plane crash, South Korea says | Aviation News [Video]

The black boxes holding flight data and cockpit voice recorders of Jeju Air’s Boeing 737-800 jet stopped recording about four minutes before the plane disaster in South Korea in December, the country’s transport ministry has said.

Jeju Air’s Flight 7C2216 was flying from Thailand to Muan International Airport in South Korea on December 29, when it belly-landed, slammed into a concrete barrier and exploded, killing 179 of the 181 passengers and crew.

It was the worst-ever aviation disaster on South Korean soil.

“The analysis revealed that both the CVR and FDR data were not recorded during the four minutes leading up to the aircraft’s collision with the localiser,” South Korea’s transport ministry said on Saturday, referring to the two recording devices.

The localiser is a barrier at the end of the runway that helps with aircraft landings and was blamed for exacerbating the crash’s severity.

The voice recorder was initially analysed in South Korea, and, when data was found to be missing, was …