Expert Blames Wall Near Runway in South Korea Disaster

As the doomed Jeju Air plane came down following a possible bird strike, things initially didn't look as bad as they could have. But then it overshot the runway and crashed into a concrete wall, immediately bursting into flames. The pilot "brought it down beautifully given the circumstances, they are going very fast but the plane is still intact as it slides along the ground," aviation safety expert David Learmount tells Sky News regarding the flight's final moments. He adds, to the Telegraph, "The landing was absolutely perfect, the pilot put it down wings level, doing a good job in bad circumstances. Even as it skids off the runway, the plane is still structurally sound and there is no fire. But then it hits the bank and all hell erupts." Had the concrete wall not been there, he believes all 181 people onboard may have survived. Instead, all but two died. More:

• Why the wall was there: The concrete structure holds what's known as a localiser antenna, a navigation system used to assist with aircraft landings, the BBC reports. The wall was raised to keep the localiser level with the runway.
• "Unusual": That's the word a Lufthansa pilot used to describe the wall's presence just 820 feet from the end of a runway. "Normally, on an airport with a runway at the end, you don't have a wall."
• Making the issue worse: Experts tell the New York Times that it's uncommon for airports to have structures like this one near runways, but that any structures that are near runways are typically made out of softer materials that will break apart rather than contributing to a catastrophe like this one.

• Others in the country: South Korea's transport ministry says other localisers in the country, and some overseas, are similarly housed in a concrete structure. The deputy transport minister says the runway and structure in question met industry standards.
• Investigation: The tragedy is being investigated by multiple agencies, and the presence of the wall will certainly be taken into account. Experts warned that no conclusions should be drawn until all the information is in.
• An alternate view: Another pilot offered a slightly different take, noting a plane is "not really designed to go high-speed on its belly, so any kind of structure could cause the fuselage to break up and then be catastrophic. ... So it's not a given that if the wall had not been there, it would have been a completely different outcome."
• Other questions remain: Such as why the landing gear failed to deploy, why there was not enough time to dump fuel, and why the plane landed at such a high rate of speed, with air brakes apparently not working.

(More South Korea plane crash stories.)