Jeju Air employees reveal unsafe maintenance practices, claiming the accident at Muan Airport was expected due to ongoing issues with the airline’s systems.
[Korea Wave, December 30th] Employees of Jeju Airlines, the low-cost carrier involved in an accident at Muan International Airport in South Korea, have caused a stir by posting on an anonymous community that “this disaster was expected.” Online communities have been brimming with testimonies that Jeju Air’s maintenance environment is poor and that the airline has had a history of aircraft defects. “Don’t fly Jeju Air,” a company employee posted on the anonymous office worker community “Blind” in February of this year, adding, “These days, every time something happens it’s because of an engine defect. You never know when it’ll fall. “We don’t know when it’s going to crash,” he wrote, pointing out that “maintenance, operations and finances have all been thrown into disarray because of the wrong president.” A mechanic at the company also said, “Mechanics work 13 to 14 hours at night. There are no breaks at all except for about 20 minutes for meals. (Passengers) fly on planes maintained by people who are overworked, exhausted and under-treated, with 1.5 times more work than other airlines and no rest. It would not be surprising if a serious accident were to occur at any time.” In the midst of this, attention has been drawn once again to an incident in January this year in which a captain of T’way Airlines, a low-cost carrier like Jeju Air, refused to fly at an airport in Vietnam due to a malfunction of the aircraft before the flight. At the time, the captain confirmed that the length of the “indicator pin,” which shows the wear condition of the brake pads, was below the specified value and requested that it be replaced. Although the airline insisted that there was no problem and that the flight should continue, the captain decided to abort the flight, and the flight was delayed by 15 hours. As a result, the captain was suspended for five months for “causing inconvenience to passengers.” This is a severe punishment that will also affect his pilot’s qualifications. T’way Airlines argued that replacing pins is outside the rules and would incur costs. However, it was later discovered that the manufacturer did not have such regulations, leading to growing criticism. Regarding this incident, people on the internet have been saying things like, “He’s a hero,” “A major accident will happen with this kind of lack of safety awareness,” and “The entire airline industry has become insensitive to safety.” In the recent Jeju Air crash, it has been pointed out that poor aircraft maintenance may have been the cause of the accident. The aircraft’s landing gear had been put out of operation due to a bird strike, so it attempted a belly landing, but it crashed into the outer wall of the runway, causing a huge explosion. The accident killed 179 of the 181 passengers and crew. It is urgent that the entire aviation industry review its safety management awareness and take measures to prevent recurrence.
>The landing gear of the crashed aircraft did not deploy due to a bird strike.
Has it been ruled out that landing gear trouble was the reason for the first crash? Have records of communications with the control tower been released? It would make more sense if the aircraft burst while dealing with the gear trouble, though.
If you look into the recent financial situation of this Korean airline, it’s dire. They made a huge loss with Koro-chan, but now they’re still in debt and the debt is growing. What’s more, their fares are over 30% cheaper than other airlines. No wonder the aircraft maintenance, pilots, and passengers are all third-rate. Rest in peace.
Either last year or this year, a Korean plane ignored the air traffic controller’s instructions, forced a landing at an airport in Japan, and almost collided with another plane that was trying to take off.
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