One day after a Boeing 737-800 flying for South Korea’s Jeju Air burst into flames during an emergency landing necessitated by landing gear problems, a second Jeju Air airplane of the same type reported a landing gear problem and returned safely to its departure airport.
The first plane, Jeju Air Flight 7C-2216, reported a bird strike on approach to Muan International Airport southwest of Seoul on Sunday morning. For reasons still unclear, the plane was unable to deploy its landing gear, so it attempted a “belly landing” with catastrophic results. The plane slammed into a concrete wall after skidding along the runway, broke apart, and caught fire, killing all but two of the 181 passengers and crew on board.
The second incident on Monday involved an early morning flight departing from Gimpo International Airport on the western edge of Seoul.