On December 29, 2024, Jeju Air Flight 2216 crashed at Muan International Airport in South Korea, killing 179 of 181 people aboard the Boeing 737-8AS airplane. The Jeju Air crash, one of South Korea's deadliest aviation disasters, raises serious questions about legal liability and aviation safety.
“This appears to involve a significant mechanical failure,” says aviation attorney Timothy A. Loranger. “Although initial reports suggest a bird strike, we do not believe that alone could account for the Jeju crash. I’ve not heard of any bird strike that resulted in failure of the landing gear to deploy.”
“With Boeing still embroiled in scandals stemming from design and manufacturing safety lapses, a thorough investigation must include careful scrutiny of the aircraft before blame is placed anywhere else.”
If someone in your family was on Jeju Air Flight 2216, you have legal rights. Wisner Baum has over 40 years of experience litigating cases on behalf of commercial plane crash victims. Most recently, our firm handled cases stemming from the Lion Air and Ethiopian Air crashes, which also involved Boeing aircraft. Our aviation law firm has repeatedly proven that we can effectively investigate and litigate international airline crashes, including legal claims against Boeing.
Contact us today to speak with an experienced plane crash attorney and protect your legal rights.
Information on Jeju Air Flight 2216 Crash
Jeju Air Crash Updates: What We Know
January 2, 2025: South Korean authorities intensified their investigation into the Jeju Air Flight 2216 crash today, conducting raids at multiple locations, including Jeju Air's Seoul headquarters and Muan International Airport.
Police executed search and seizure operations at the regional aviation office and various facilities connected to the incident, signaling a broader probe into potential safety violations. Authorities also issued a travel ban for Jeju Air CEO Kim E-bae. The investigation continues to focus on airport operations, airline safety protocols, and potential mechanical failure.
January 1, 2025: Investigators successfully retrieved data from the cockpit voice recorder of the crashed Jeju Air Flight 2216, marking a crucial step in understanding what caused the crash. The recovered audio data will undergo analysis while investigators prepare to send the flight data recorder to authorities in the United States for further examination. Aviation experts anticipate these critical black box recordings will reveal key details about the final moments before the Boeing 737-8AS crash.
Plane crash lawyer Timothy A. Loranger told the media that the cockpit voice recorder and the flight data recorder should help answer several important questions, which may affect potential lawsuits against Jeju Air, Boeing, or other entities:
- “Why wasn’t the landing gear deployed? Why weren’t the slats and flaps deployed? Was there a hydraulic failure? That could explain why the nose landing gear didn’t go down to some extent and also why the slats and the flaps were not extended. It’s hard to imagine a bird strike alone would have caused the plane to suffer full hydraulics failure, including the backup systems.”
- “The landing gear should also be able to extend manually. If there was a full hydraulic failure, the pilots still should have a way of actually mechanically releasing the landing gear mechanism so that gravity pulls the landing gear down, and they should have a nose landing gear. Why didn't that happen?”
Jeju Air families hope data from the black boxes will answer these questions.
December 31, 2024: Inspections of all Boeing 737-800 airliners operating in South Korea will continue through January 3, 2025, authorities say. Muan International Airport will remain closed until January 7.
December 31, 2024: Investigators say the flight data recorder is missing key components needed to extract data. They are currently working on a solution for data retrieval. As for the cockpit voice recorder, investigators are in the process of analyzing the data. Attorneys say the cockpit voice recorder should provide some answers as to why the landing gear was not deployed.
December 31, 2024: Comments in the Muan International Airport’s operating manual noted that the concrete embankment that Jeju Air 2216 crashed into was “too close to the end of the runway.” The comments further recommended that the “location of the equipment be reviewed during a planned expansion.”
Aviation experts have said the wall should not have been there.
December 31, 2024: Jeju Air families are becoming increasingly angry at the speed with which officials are working to identify the deceased. As of today, authorities have identified all but five of the remains. The National Police has allocated more resources to identify the victims, including increasing personnel and bringing in rapid DNA analyzers.
December 30, 2024: Officials are working to identify the victims of the Jeju Air crash as hundreds of mourners have arrived at Muan International Airport looking for answers on what caused the Jeju Air crash. Many are angry that they have not yet seen the bodies of their loved ones who perished in the worst air disaster in recent history. Police superintendent general Na Won-o told mourners officials were taking their time to carefully identify all 179 victims, leading to delays.
December 30, 2024: South Korea's transport ministry ordered inspections of all Boeing 737-800 aircraft operating in the country. The inspections will focus on the maintenance records of key flight components. Acting President Choi Sang-Mok has also mandated an emergency safety inspection of the country's entire airline operations.
Seven days of national mourning have been declared.
December 29, 2024: Another Jeju Air flight had similar landing gear issues to Flight 7C2216. A Jeju Air plane that took off from Gimpo Airport in Seoul experienced an unidentified landing gear problem, forcing the plane to return to Gimpo. The airliner was able to land safely.
December 29, 2024: Jeju Air Flight 7C2216 was running 30 minutes behind schedule before the fatal crash. The Boeing 737-8AS jetliner appeared to be proceeding normally until air traffic controllers at Muan International Airport issued an urgent bird strike warning at 8:57 a.m. local time. Moments later, the pilots immediately declared an emergency with three "Mayday" calls.
A fisherman near the airport reported seeing birds hit the aircraft's right engine, followed by multiple loud explosions and flames erupting from that side of the plane.
At 9:03 a.m., the Boeing 737-8AS attempted to land without its landing gear deployed. It skidded down the runway before slamming into a concrete structure and the airport's perimeter wall, erupting in flames and scattering debris across the airfield.
Emergency responders launched a level 3 response within 13 minutes, deploying 80 firefighters and 32 fire engines to the scene. The fire raged for 43 minutes before crews finally contained it at 9:46 a.m.
December 29, 2024: Jeju Air Flight 2216, a Boeing 737-800 aircraft taking passengers from Bangkok, Thailand to Muan, South Korea, attempted an emergency landing at Muan International Airport following a reported bird strike. The plane made a gear-up landing, slid off the runway, and collided with a concrete wall before bursting into flames. The crash killed 179 people, including 175 passengers and four crew members. Only two flight attendants survived the crash.
The plane crash lawyers at Wisner Baum are closely monitoring the Jeju Air investigation and will update this page as information becomes available.
Critical Factors Under Investigation
Several key elements will likely factor into potential lawsuits:
Mechanical failure: The aircraft performed a gear-up landing, suggesting potential mechanical failure or system malfunction. Investigators need to find out why the pilot, who had over 7,000 flying experience, did not lower the landing gear.
Bird Strike Response: The crew declared "Mayday" after reporting a bird strike, but questions remain about this as a cause or contributing factor to the crash. According to aviation accident attorney Clay Robbins III, bird strikes are well known risks in the aviation field. “Risk often is associated with bird populations around airports,” Robbins says. “Airports should be mindful of mitigation techniques and have specialized Notice to Airmen (NOTAM) policies in place for at risk airports.”
The investigation will seek to answer questions about bird strike protocols for air traffic control and airlines.
Airport Runway Conditions: Media reports indicate that construction at Muan Airport had reduced the available landing distance from 2800m to 2500m, which could be relevant to the crash sequence. More importantly was the presence of a concrete wall at the end of the runway, which the plane slammed into before bursting into flames.
The aircraft reportedly struck a “localizer,” a critical navigation aid that helps planes land safely. Transport officials said the localizer sat atop a 13-foot-high concrete structure covered in dirt to keep it level with the runway. While similar concrete installations exist at other airports in South Korea and internationally, officials are now investigating whether using lighter, frangible materials would have been safer in a crash scenario.
“If the concrete wall was not there, it is possible, if not likely, that lives could have been saved,” says plane crash lawyer Clay Robbins III.
Jeju Air Crash Legal Implications and Potential Claims
We won’t have any definitive information on legal claims until there is more information available on the cause (or causes) of the fatal plane crash in South Korea. The attorneys at Wisner Baum can offer the following legal considerations as potential grounds for lawsuits pending the results of the crash investigation.
Possible Claims Against Boeing
“The bird strike itself should not have prevented the pilots from extending the landing gear,” says attorney Timothy A. Loranger. “If the right engine failed due to the bird strike, the flight crew still should have had sufficient hydraulic pressure to lower the landing gear.”
“Even if the plane lost all hydraulic pressure, there is still a way to lower the landing gear manually. With all of that said, if the pilots were experiencing multiple catastrophic failures—and the hurried nature of this emergency landing attempt suggests that they were under extreme duress—the flight crew may not have had adequate time.”
Pending the crash investigation results, Boeing may be held accountable in lawsuits if officials find mechanical failure caused or contributed to this crash.
Potential Lawsuits Against Jeju Air
Jeju Air is a budget airline that works aggressively to attract passengers. According to media sources, it pushes aircraft in its fleet harder than its competitors. The Boeing 737-8AS logged 12 trips within 48 hours before the Muan Airport crash, including flights within South Korea or to China, Japan, Malaysia, and Taiwan.
Attorney Timothy A. Loranger says the aircraft usage “would only be a concern if the aircraft was flown during some exceptional weather or there was some event that may have caused damage. As long as the aircraft was up-to-date on maintenance, the hours of flight prior to the crash does not raise serious red flags.”
So what would a Jeju Air lawsuit involve? If the crash investigation reveals that the airline was negligent in any of the following areas, the families of the victims may be able to pursue legal claims:
- Operational safety procedures
- Crew training and decision-making
- Aircraft maintenance practices
- Emergency response protocols
“If the investigation finds that Jeju Air prioritized profits over passenger safety, they may be held liable in lawsuits,” says attorney Clay Robbins III.
Jeju Air Crash Victims
The Jeju Air crash devastated families across South Korea and Thailand. The victims, mostly local residents returning home from a holiday in Thailand, ranged from 3 to 78 years old. The victims included:
- Five children under age 10
- Multiple family groups traveling together
- Four Jeju Air crew members
Background on Boeing 737-800 Plane
The Jeju Air crash involved a Boeing 737-8AS, part of the "next generation" 737-800 series of aircraft introduced in 1997. It's a widely used model, making up about 15% of the global passenger aircraft fleet with approximately 4,400 planes in service. Over 180 airlines worldwide, including major carriers like American Airlines, United Airlines, Delta, and Ryanair, use this model.
The Boeing 737-800 series was replaced by the controversial MAX series aircraft. The 737-MAX is closely related to its predecessor model but includes bigger engines and other changes. Investigators found that design flaws in the MAX contributed to two airline crashes (Lion Air Flight 610 and Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302) in 2018 and 2019 that killed 346 people. Those disasters kickstarted the Boeing scandal and grounded the entire MAX fleet until design issues were corrected.
Jeju Air received the plane that was destroyed in the 2216 crash in 2017. According to Flightradar24, the aircraft was about 15 years old and had previously been operated by Ryanair.
In the immediate aftermath of the Jeju Air 2216 crash, aviation safety officials from South Korea ordered an inspection of all Boeing 737-800s operating in the country.
Justice for Families of Jeju Air Victims | Wisner Baum Wrongful Death Attorneys
The wrongful death attorneys at Wisner Baum understand the devastation for families mourning the loss of their loved ones. We extend our deepest condolences as the families seek answers to this horrible incident. Our law firm is ready to help if called upon to seek justice and accountability for the Jeju Air Flight 2216 crash.
Wisner Baum has decades of experience litigating cases stemming from international airline crashes. We have obtained justice and compensation in lawsuits against The Boeing Company and many of the top airlines in the world.
Our firm has litigated international airline crashcases against these airlines (among others):
- Aero Mexico
- Asiana Airlines
- British European Airways
- China Eastern Airlines
- EgyptAir
- Germanwings
- Korean Air
- Singapore Airlines
- SAS-Scandinavian Airline Systems
- SwissAir
- TACA Airlines
The complexity of aviation disaster litigation requires experienced legal representation to navigate international laws, multiple jurisdictions, and corporate defendants with deep pockets. At Wisner Baum, we have won over $4 billion for clients across multiple practice areas. We know what it takes to win big cases against any corporate defendant.
For more information about legal rights and options following the Jeju Air crash, contact the experienced aviation disaster attorneys at Wisner Baum who can answer any questions you may have about the legal process and evaluate your potential claims.
