Jeju Air Crash Update 24.7.25 – BIZARRE Conclusion
Yesterday the final report of the Jeju air crash was disrupted by relatives of the victims. Apparently they have no confidence in the investigation. In this article I’ll go through what we know about the Jeju crash and see if their concerns are warranted.
Jeju Air Crash – Pilot Error
The most contentious point of the final report is that it points the finger at the pilots and specifically that the pilots turned off the wrong engine.
There is footage of thrust apparently coming from the engine that looks the most damaged and this apparently is enough for many YouTube aviation “experts” to conclude that the report must be correct.
However, as a layman, I don’t think one video shot of the plane is enough to conclude that the report is right.
I think the report should layout many different things that leads it to the conclusion of pilot error. But unfortunately, many YouTube “experts” are happy to take this single piece of “evidence”.
Wrong Engine Shut Down – Jeju 2216
Mentour Pilot seems to have done a very fair video of the crash. And in that video he highlights indirectly some anomalies with the “wrong” engine shut down hypothesis.
Go-Around
After the bird strike Jeju 2216 did a go-around and landed on the opposite runway. According to Mentour Pilot this requires engine power to gain height to complete the turn.
If the pilots had shut down the “wrong” engine, how would this have been possible?
Yes, if the footage is correct the engine making thrust looks the worst damaged but appearances can be deceptive and the fact that the plane completed a go-round suggests the engine was making thrust to some extent.
Complete Electrical Failure
The Mentour Pilot video also highlights all of the signs that the plane had experienced complete electrical failure. Watch the video for the complete run down but I’ll details some key points here.
There were no lights on the plane. There didn’t appear to be any hydraulic or electrical assistance to the flight controls. The landing gear wasn’t set and the most bizarre thing was that the flight data and voice recorders apparently also shut down.
Investigation
Given that we don’t have any data from the flight data recorders and given we don’t have any recordings from the cockpit, the investigation is completely reliant on video footage and the debris.
Wrong Engine
As a layman, I don’t understand how anyone could say the flight crew shutdown the “wrong” engine.
The explanation is that the right engine was the most damaged and this may indeed be the case. But the fact is the plane completed a go-around using this engine.
Yes this engine may, may, have produced less thrust than the other but the fact is it did produce enough thrust to keep the plane in the air. And for this reason I don’t know how it can be called the “wrong” engine.
Cockpit
Additionally, I wonder what indications and messages the crew were given about engine status. Again, I am a layman, but I imagine that the systems on the plane would give the pilots and idea of which engine was experiencing a problem.
Is the final report suggesting they ignored messages from the plane?
And how would they be able to come to such a conclusion given that there is no flight data?
Facts
I’m not speculating on what happened, I’ll stick to the facts as presented by Mentour Pilot
What We Know
Regardless of all the incidental information like thrust apparently coming from the right engine, birds found in the engine and so on.
The reality is this.
-The plane had enough engine power to complete a go-around.
-The plane has all the signs of complete electrical and/or hydraulic failure.
Pilot Error
Given these two points, is there any solid signs that the pilots have made sub optimal decisions?
Well the landing gear can be deployed manually. If there was time, the landing gear may have been deployable.
Having said that, is it possible the non deployment of the landing gear manually was a deliberate decision?
Conclusion
Again, as a layman and from watching a video from what I think is a decent source, and from not having seen the final crash report of Jeju Air 2216, I find it hard to understand (both from the evidence available and from the evidence that is not available) how a conclusion of pilot error is plausible. Again, I say this as a layman.
