The newest warning got here 10 days earlier than the deadliest air crash in South Korea.
A dozen officers gathered inside a room at Muan Worldwide Airport for a gathering of a chicken strike prevention committee, the place they mentioned the variety of plane being hit by birds, with knowledge exhibiting a soar in incidents over the previous couple of years.
One official, from one of many nation’s aviation coaching institutes, expressed concern that planes coming in to land typically encountered flocks of birds by the shoreline, in accordance with a document of the assembly obtained by a lawmaker. To what extent is it doable to maintain the birds away? the official requested.
The reply wasn’t reassuring. There weren’t sufficient folks and vehicles deployed on the airport to maintain birds away, and sounds from loudspeakers used to broadcast noises to scare birds off weren’t sturdy sufficient to achieve far sufficient past the airport, mentioned an official from the corporate that managed the airport’s services. He famous that they “had been attempting their greatest.”
Then, on Dec. 29, the pilot of Jeju Air Flight 2216 declared “Mayday! Mayday! Mayday!” and advised air visitors controllers there had been a chicken strike because the aircraft was making its descent. After making a pointy flip, the jet landed on its stomach, slid down the runway and rammed right into a concrete barrier, exploding right into a fireball that killed 179 of the 181 folks on board.
Investigators haven’t recognized the explanations for the crash and what function, if any, a chicken strike might need performed. However the nation’s transport ministry mentioned chicken feathers and blood had been present in each of the jet’s engines. The stays had been recognized as being from the Baikal teal, a migratory duck widespread to South Korea in winter that always flies in flocks of as much as tens and even a whole lot of hundreds.
The Dec. 19 assembly was not the primary warning airport operators had acquired about birds. The hazards had been flagged for many years, relationship again to even earlier than the Muan airport opened in 2007, in accordance with a New York Occasions examination of hundreds of pages of presidency paperwork, interviews with dozens of individuals, and a go to to the wetlands surrounding the airport within the nation’s southwest. Environmental assessments in 1998 and 2008 additionally famous there have been many species of birds dwelling near the airport.
Most starkly, in 2020, when the airport started renovations that would come with the extension of its runway, South Korea’s Environmental Affect Evaluation service mentioned there was “a excessive threat of chicken strikes throughout takeoff and touchdown.” It suggested that measures had been wanted to cut back the chance.
The Korea Airports Company mentioned in response to questions from The Occasions that to stop chicken strikes it had used autos and noise makers to disperse flocks of birds and had carried out environmental surveys to watch the airport’s surrounding habitats. The corporate mentioned extra loudspeakers had been put in on airport premises after the assembly on Dec. 19.
However like most smaller airports in South Korea, Muan nonetheless lacked thermal imaging cameras and chicken detection radar used to alert air visitors controllers and pilots to the presence of birds, in accordance with the federal government.
Airports in every single place are suggested to have such measures in place, in accordance with pointers from the Worldwide Civil Aviation Group, a United Nations company that units world requirements for the aviation business.
“The laws are there, however folks have been breaking them with none repercussions,” says Dr. Nial Moores, the nationwide director of Birds Korea, a chicken conservation group. “They had been warned in regards to the threat of a chicken strike,” he added. “How come nothing has modified?”
Along with failing to comply with worldwide pointers, the airport’s operators additionally breached home security laws.
On the day of the crash in Muan, just one particular person was on obligation to be careful for birds, as an alternative of a minimal of two that authorities guidelines require, in accordance with lawmakers at a parliamentary committee listening to into the catastrophe.
That chicken patroller was on the finish of a 15-hour evening shift, the interval when the overwhelming majority of chicken strikes happen, in accordance with a presentation by Moon Geum-joo, a lawmaker, on the committee listening to. Joo Jong-wan, the pinnacle of the transport ministry’s aviation coverage, conceded that the airport’s patrol was understaffed and mentioned all airports would meet the minimal staffing sooner or later.
The Korea Airports Company mentioned it had adhered to authorities requirements and was hiring extra workers to stop chicken collisions. The transport ministry declined to remark.
As well as, at the least one particular person required to attend the assembly of the chicken strike prevention committee had missed the one on Dec. 19, an official from the Korea Airports Company acknowledged on the parliamentary listening to. The state-owned firm operates nearly all of South Korea’s airports, together with the one in Muan.
“It’s a disgrace that they’ve identified about their shortcomings for years, however nothing has really been carried out to enhance,” mentioned Kwon Hyang-Yup, an opposition lawmaker who obtained the chicken security committee report.
Whereas airplane strikes with wildlife are not uncommon, most don’t trigger planes to crash. Out of almost 20,000 wildlife strikes in america in 2023, round 4 p.c brought about harm to the aircraft.
For the reason that crash, South Korea’s authorities has pledged 247 billion gained (round $173 million) over three years to enhance bird-strike prevention measures in any respect the nation’s airports. Deliberate measures embody putting in chicken detection units and implementing a nationwide radar mannequin to alert folks in management towers, patrollers on the bottom and pilots to the presence of birds.
Some specialists ask whether or not the Muan airport ought to have been constructed in any respect due to the abundance of birds within the wetlands surrounding it. The airport has at the least twice reported the very best variety of chicken strikes in another country’s 15 airports over the previous 5 years, with six instances in 2024, up from two the earlier 12 months.
Its price of chicken strikes was 10 instances that of Incheon Worldwide Airport, the nation’s largest, in accordance with knowledge launched by Ms. Kwon, the lawmaker. Incheon, which additionally lies near chicken habitats, has recognized almost 100 species of birds in its vicinity. It has 4 thermal imaging cameras, two units that emit bird-repelling noises, and 48 employees assigned to chicken management, in accordance with an airport consultant.
Ju Yung-Ki, a researcher and conservationist who has visited the Muan space repeatedly lately, was working in his workplace on Dec. 29 when he realized in regards to the aircraft crash.
“I had all the time thought there was a threat of a chicken strike there,” mentioned Mr. Ju, the director of the Ecoculture Institute. Mr. Ju had flown out and in of the Muan airport a number of instances, regardless of his considerations.
After listening to information of the crash, he traveled round 70 miles from his residence in Jeonju, northeast of Muan, to a lake close to the airport and arrived round 4:30 p.m. He might see the charred tail of the aircraft and the wreckage on the finish of the runway. “It was horrific,” he mentioned, including that he shed tears eager about the individuals who had died.
As that afternoon progressed, he additionally positioned flocks of as much as 300,000 Baikal teals round 18 miles from the airport. They fly at the least that distance to seek for meals, and he noticed with binoculars and a telescope that the airport was of their every day flight path.
The Baikal teal isn’t significantly massive, at round 16 inches lengthy with an eight-inch wingspan. However the geese transfer in massive, agile flocks that may attain as many as one million in quantity, mentioned Dr. Moores of Birds Korea. They breed in Siberia and arrive on the southwestern coast of South Korea in October and keep by means of early March.
Muan, nearly 200 miles south of Seoul, lies among the many marshy grasslands and reservoirs throughout the southwestern peninsula, the place the duck and different species of birds roost in pockets of calm water. Native enterprise house owners mentioned that flocks of birds had been most frequently seen at a rustic membership close to the airport; round 4 miles away.
An enforcement regulation hooked up to South Korea’s Airport Amenities Act in 2017 stipulates that an airport can’t be constructed inside eight kilometers, or about 5 miles, of a chicken sanctuary or recreation reserve. However, in accordance with the nation’s surroundings ministry, there is just one such sanctuary in Muan, and that lies about 12 miles from the airport.
Conservationists say the truth is totally different. They are saying the time period sanctuary — labeled as a collective habitat and breeding floor for endangered wildlife — ignores most of the area’s populous chicken habitats. A map by the Korean Office of Civil Aviation identifies 4 areas surrounding the Muan airport the place birds feed and roost.
A few of these spots are as shut as a bit of over a mile from the airport. On one morning in February, a whole lot of birds flew overhead at round this distance. Bigger birds flew in a “V” formation, whereas smaller ones wove out and in in an aerial dance.
“It’s not a matter of whether or not the Muan Worldwide Airport is close to a sanctuary or not,” Mr. Ju mentioned. “The very fact is that there are a number of birds that reside there.”
The choice on whether or not an space is a sanctuary lies with the mayor or governor, in accordance with South Korea’s Wildlife Safety and Administration Act. There are round 400 of those protected areas nationwide, in accordance with the Ministry of Setting.
Consultants say that irrespective of what number of preventive efforts are undertaken, chicken strikes can’t be completely eradicated. “The apparent factor is to not construct an airport the place there are a number of birds,” mentioned Keith Mackey, an American aviation professional and security marketing consultant based mostly in Ocala, Fla.
Different strategies that could possibly be deployed to discourage birds embody utilizing brightly coloured paint on the runway and drones to disperse close by flocks, Mr. Mackey mentioned.
Muan’s airport has been closed because the Dec. 29 crash and won’t resume industrial flights till April 18 on the earliest. The airport just lately resumed medical and coaching flights.
South Korea has formidable plans to construct 10 airports over the subsequent few many years in response to booming regional demand for elevated abroad journey. A number of will even be alongside the western shoreline. One is of explicit concern to conservationists: in Saemangeum, about 65 miles north of Muan.
The proposed airport, which is scheduled to open in 2029, lies inside 4 miles of the Seocheon Tidal Flat, a UNESCO Heritage Web site that’s residence to dozens of nationally protected wildlife species together with birds, in accordance with Kim Nahee, an activist who’s protesting towards the development of the brand new airport.
Officers in North Jeolla Province, the place Saemangeum is, mentioned “there was no infrastructure that will disturb the flight path of birds,” citing an evaluation it had acquired from authorities environmental company’s evaluation.
“They shouldn’t have constructed the Muan Worldwide Airport the place they did,” Ms. Kim mentioned. “This may’t occur once more.”
