Exactly what happened to the crashed Boeing plane in South Korean Muan is not clear. But reports have spoken of a bird collision that led to engine failure and landing gear that could not be lowered.
It seems to have been a prepared emergency landing, the passengers had time to prepare themselves and send SMS, says flight expert Jan Ohlsson.
The pilot cannot get the wheels down and therefore decides to make a belly landing.
Smoke from the engine
He says that it looks on the films from the runway as if one engine is quite badly damaged.
In a belly landing, you usually lay down a foam mat on the runway to avoid sparks. It's impossible to see on the pictures if it's there, but it looks like there's quite a lot of sparks, says Ohlsson.
He says it's "a pretty nice emergency landing".
It doesn't seem to be any desperation. The nose is a bit higher and it glides nicely on the runway. But then there's sparks and smoke coming from one engine. And for some reason, the plane crashes into a fence or wall, says Ohlsson.
He considers it "extremely unsuitable" to have a wall that doesn't give way on a runway.
This is an unusually deadly outcome of an emergency landing that seems to go quite well. The fence, or whatever it hits, seems to play a role here.
But it could also be something with the engines, that they finally explode or leak gasoline.
Usually goes well
Belly landings are something that pilots train on in simulators and which, according to Ohlsson, "usually go well".
In general, people usually walk away from a belly landing without any injuries, he says.
For a bird collision to be able to cause more serious damage to an airplane, Jan Ohlsson says it requires larger birds or a large flock. One or two birds are not enough.
It's unusual for bird collisions to lead to a total crash with such a large plane.
Jan Ohlsson also says that we don't know if it's a bird collision.
South Korea has a conflict with North Korea, so just like in the case of Azerbaijan, one must keep in mind that there is a risk that it could be something else that hit the engine.
That Boeing has been accident-prone in recent years has, according to him, nothing to do with the accident.
It has no significance. This is a proven plane that is 15 years old, which is the average age for planes.
