Expert focuses on structure close to runway plane skidded off in South Korea

euronews (in English)

Air safety expert David Learmount said the tragedy did not happen because of the fault of the landing gear, but because of a concrete structure near the runway.

Transcript

00:00Leading aviation expert reveals shocking cause of 179 deaths of the South Korea plane crash.

00:08David Learmount said the tragedy did not happen because of the fault of the landing gear but

00:13because of a concrete structure next to the runway.

00:18I'm pretty shocked actually because whatever happened to the airplane which meant that

00:23the pilot couldn't get the flaps and gear down for the landing was not actually what

00:29caused the death of the passengers. The passengers were killed by hitting a solid structure

00:36just over the end of the runway where a solid structure should not be.

00:41That concrete structure contained the landing system antennas which are used to guide the

00:47aircraft to the runway at night or in bad weather. Those antennas are normally just

00:52stuck in the ground, he says, meaning the tragedy could have been prevented.

00:59He had to land particularly fast, that's why the aircraft went over the end of the runway.

01:04That's why, because aircraft occasionally will go over the end, you don't put solid

01:09structures immediately in the overrun.

01:13Officials said they will look into whether the airport's landing system antennas should

01:17have been encased with lighter materials that would break more easily on impact. Similar

01:23concrete structures have been found in other domestic airports as well as in the United

01:28States, Spain and South Africa, authorities reported. The aircraft operated 13 flights

01:34in 48 hours before it crashed.

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