Second South Korea Jeju Air flight suffers landing problem

A Jeju Air flight from Seoul on Monday was forced to return after encountering a landing gear problem, the airline said, a day after South Korea’s most deadly plane crash.

The Boeing 737-800 involved in the latest incident was the same model as the Jeju Air plane that crashed on Sunday killing 179 people after coming down without its landing gear engaged.

Jeju Air Flight 7C101, which departed Seoul’s Gimpo International Airport for Jeju island “at around 6:37 am, returned to Gimpo at 7:25 am” after a landing gear issue was detected shortly after takeoff, the South Korean airline said.

“Shortly after takeoff, a signal indicating a landing gear issue was detected on the aircraft’s monitoring system,” Song Kyung-hoon, head of the management support office at Jeju Air, told a news conference.

“At 6:57 am, the captain communicated with ground control, and after taking additional measures, the landing gear returned to normal operation. However, the decision was made to return to the airport for a thorough inspection of the aircraft.”

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Local media reported that 21 passengers chose not to board an alternate flight to Jeju, citing concerns over safety and other reasons.

Jeju Air’s 41 plane fleet includes 39 Boeing 737-800 aircraft.

Seoul said on Monday it would conduct a special inspection of all 101 Boeing 737-800 planes in operation in the country, with US investigators, possibly including from plane manufacturer Boeing, joining the probe into the crash.

“We are reviewing plans to conduct a special inspection on B737-800 aircraft,” said Joo Jong-wan, head of the aviation policy bureau at the South Korean transport ministry.

Joo added that the government plans to “implement rigorous aviation safety inspections in response to the (landing gear) incidents”.

In Sunday’s crash at Muan, the Boeing 737-800 carrying 181 people from Thailand to South Korea made a mayday call and belly-landed before crashing into a barrier and bursting into flames.

Everyone on board Jeju Air Flight 2216 was killed, save two flight attendants pulled from the wreckage.

Second South Korea Jeju Air flight suffers landing problem

S’Korea orders probe after deadly plane crash

South Korea’s acting leader has ordered an emergency safety inspection of the country’s entire airline operations, a day after 179 people were killed in the deadliest plane crash on its soil.

The Jeju Air plane burst into flames as it crash-landed in South Korea’s Muan International Airport, killing everyone onboard save for two victims.

Acting President Choi Sang-mok has asked investigators into the incident to promptly disclose their findings to bereaved families.

His request also comes as another Jeju Air flight turned back to Seoul shortly after takeoff on Monday, due to an unidentified landing-gear issue.

On Monday, the Jeju Air plane departed from Gimpo International Airport at 06:35 local time (21:35 GMT Sunday) and returned less than an hour later after realising a mechanical defect caused by the landing-gear issue, South Korea’s Yonhap news agency reported.

Landing gear refers to the set of wheels and other parts of the plane which supports the plane during takeoff, taxiing and landing.

The aircraft that turned back was a Boeing B737-800, the same model as the one involved in the disaster on Sunday.

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Thirty-nine of the 41 aircrafts in Jeju Air’s fleet are of this model.

After Sunday’s deadly crash, Boeing had said it was in touch with Jeju Air and that it stood “ready to support them”.

The 179 passengers on flight 7C2216 were aged between three and 78 years old, although most were in their 40s, 50s and 60s, according to Yonhap news agency. Two Thai nationals are among the dead and the rest are believed to be South Korean, authorities have said.

On Sunday, the ill-fated plane had skidded off the runway after touching down and crashed into a wall shortly after 09:00 local time (00:00 GMT).

A South Korean transport official had said that the plane had been attempting to land but was forced to hold off after air traffic control gave a bird strike warning – an alert about the risk of a collision with birds.

Air traffic command later gave permission for the plane to land from the opposite direction, the official said.

The airline’s bosses bowed deeply as they gave a public apology at a press conference on Sunday.

“We deeply apologise to all those affected by the incident. We will make every effort to resolve the situation,” the firm said in a statement.

Jeju Air shares were trading around 8% lower in Seoul on Monday.

The accident is a national tragedy for South Korea, which has been embroiled in political turmoil after parliament voted to impech President Yoon Suk Yeol and his temporary successor Han Duck-soo.

Acting President Choi, who stepped into the interim role only on Friday, said he is “heartbroken” by the accident.

“To the honorable citizens of our nation, as an acting president, my heart aches as we face this unforeseen tragedy amid recent economic hardships,” he said.

S’Korea orders probe after deadly plane crash

Oldest ex-US President Jimmy Carter dies at 100

Former US President Jimmy Carter has died aged 100, the centre he founded has confirmed.

The former peanut farmer lived longer than any president in history and celebrated his 100th birthday in October.

The Carter Center, which advocates for democracy and human rights around the world, said he died on Sunday afternoon at his home in Plains, Georgia.

The Democrat served as president from 1977 to 1981, a period beset by economic and diplomatic crises.

After leaving the White House with low approval ratings, his reputation was restored through humanitarian work which earned him the Nobel Peace Prize.

“My father was a hero, not only to me but to everyone who believes in peace, human rights, and unselfish love,” his son, Chip Carter, said in a statement.

“The world is our family because of the way he brought people together, and we thank you for honouring his memory by continuing to live these shared beliefs.”

Jimmy Carter is survived by his four children, 11 grandchildren and 14 great-grandchildren.

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His wife, Rosalynn, who he was married to for 77 years, died in November 2023.

Since 2018 and the death of George HW Bush, he was the oldest surviving US president.

Carter stopped medical treatment for an undisclosed illness last year and instead began receiving hospice care at his home.

Jimmy Carter’s presidency will be remembered for his struggles in dealing with acute economic problems and several foreign policy challenges, including the Iran hostage crisis, which ended with the deaths of eight Americans.

There was, however, a notable foreign policy triumph in the Middle East when he helped broker an accord between Egypt and Israel, signed at Camp David in the US in 1978.

But that seemed a distant memory two years later, when voters overwhelmingly chose Republican Ronald Reagan, who had portrayed the president as a weak leader unable to deal with inflation and interest rates at near record highs.

Jimmy Carter lost the 1980 election by a landslide, winning only six US states plus Washington DC.

In the aftermath of such a heavy defeat, Carter was frequently held up by Republicans as an example of liberal ineptitude.

Meanwhile, many in his own party either ignored him or viewed his presidential shortcomings as evidence their brand of Democratic politics or policy was a better way.

Today many on the right still deride the Carter years but as the decades passed, his humanitarian efforts and simple lifestyle began to shape a new legacy for many Americans.

After leaving the White House, he became the first and only president to return full-time to the house he lived in before politics – a humble, two-bedroom ranch-style home.

He chose not to pursue the lucrative after-dinner speeches and publishing deals awaiting most former presidents, telling the Washington Post in 2018 that he never really wanted to be rich.

Instead he spent his remaining years trying to address global problems of inequality and disease.

Oldest ex-US President Jimmy Carter dies at 100