Why was there a wall at the end of the runway

Aviation experts are questioning the role of an airport design that positioned a mound of dirt and a concrete wall after the end of a runway, which Jeju Air flight 7C2216 crashed into on Sunday morning, killing all the two of the 181 people on board.

The plane, a Boeing 737-800, belly landed on the runway of Muan International Airport in southwestern South Korea after a night flight, apparently with the flaps and landing gear retracted. The jetliner burst into flames after hitting the ground and the wall, where a localizer had been installed, which guides the planes on the runway.

“It certainly made it difficult to land the aircraft safely,” said Todd Curtis, founder of Air Safe Media, which tracks aviation accidents and other incidents. Curtis worked at Boeing for nearly a decade as a safety engineer.

It will take crash investigators months, if not longer, to discover the cause of the crash, South Korea’s worst air disaster and the deadliest crash in years. They will be examine everything from aircraft maintenance records to pilot-to-engine scheduling to cockpit voice recorders.

Initial evidence suggests that a bird strike may have played a key role in the eventual loss of the engine. Experts have warned that the investigation is in the early stages.

Some aviation experts say the deaths could have been minimized if the plane had not collided with the concrete wall.

In the video of the Jeju Air flight landing, “you see the plane skidding, slowing down, slowing down and everything is going pretty well until it hits” the wall, said John Cox, an aviation safety consultant . and a Boeing 737 pilot.

Cox said he suspects the cause of death for most of the passengers on board “will be blunt force trauma from hitting the wall.”

Barriers past airport runways are common and recommended by international authorities and other aviation authorities.

In the United States, the Federal Aviation Administration requires a safety zone approximately 500 feet wide and 1,000 feet beyond the end of the runway to limit damage should an airplane overrun the runway. But the FAA says there are other mitigation methods under its Runway Safety Area Program because many U.S. runways were built before the standard was established.

“Although the original RSA improvement projects are complete, the program continues to evolve to address security risk and plan for future improvements,” the agency says.

At New York’s LaGuardia Airport and others, for example, there are engineered material arresting systems, or EMAS, installed – a crushable material that slows a plane beyond the runway and prevents it from rolling into more dangerous areas. In 2016, then-Vice Presidential candidate Mike Pence’s plane overran LaGuardia’s runway and was eventually stopped by EMAS.

The barrier at the edge of the runway at Muan International Airport did not seem to be frangible, or have the ability to break, according to video footage and expert analysis, something that investigators are likely to focus on.