PRACTICE TEST 1
South Korea orders airline safety probe after worst domestic crash kills 179
MUAN COUNTY, South Korea, Dec 30 (Reuters) - South Korea's acting
President Choi Sang-mok ordered on Monday an emergency safety inspection
of the country's entire airline operation as investigators worked to identify
victims and find out what caused the deadliest air disaster on South Korean soil.
All 175 passengers and four of the six crew were killed when a Jeju Air
(089590.KS) Boeing (BA.N) 737-800 belly-landed and skidded off the end of
the runway at Muan International Airport, erupting in a fireball as it slammed
into a wall. Two crew members were pulled out alive.
The top priority for now is identifying the victims, supporting their families and
treating the two survivors, Choi told a disaster management meeting in Seoul.
"Even before the final results are out, we ask that officials transparently disclose
the accident investigation process and promptly inform the bereaved families,"
he said.
"As soon as the accident recovery is conducted, the transport ministry is
requested to conduct an emergency safety inspection of the entire aircraft
operation system to prevent recurrence of aircraft accidents," he said.
As a first step, the transport ministry announced plans to conduct a special
inspection of all 101 Boeing 737-800 aircraft operated by South Korean
airliners beginning on Monday, focusing on the maintenance record of key
components.
The 737-800 is one of the world’s most flown aircraft with a generally strong
safety record. It was developed well before the MAX variant involved in a
recent Boeing safety crisis.
Jeju Air flight 7C2216, arriving from the Thai capital Bangkok, was trying to
land shortly after 9 a.m. (0000 GMT) on Sunday at the airport in the south of
the country.
Investigators are examining bird strikes, whether any of the aircraft's control
systems were disabled, and the apparent rush by the pilots to attempt a landing
soon after declaring an emergency as possible factors in the crash, fire and
transportation officials have said.
Experts say many questions remain, including why the plane, powered by two
CFM 56-7B26 engines, appeared to be travelling so fast and why its landing
gear did not appear to be down when it skidded down the runway and into a
concrete embankment.
"I can't think of any reason for being forced to make a landing like this," said
aviation safety expert John Nance, a former military and commercial pilot who
flew 737s for Alaska Airlines.
The plane landed at high speed, and based on video, the pilots did not or could
not take steps to slow it down, Nance said.
CFM International is a joint venture between GE Aerospace and France's Safran
On Monday, transport ministry officials said that as the pilots made a scheduled
approach they told air traffic control the aircraft had suffered a bird strike,
shortly after the control tower gave them a warning birds were spotted in the
vicinity.
The pilots then issued a Mayday warning and signalled their intention to
abandon the landing and to go around and try again. Shortly afterwards, the
aircraft came down on the runway in a belly landing, touching down about
1,200 metres (1,310 yards) along the 2,800 metre (3,062 yard) runway and
sliding into the embankment at the end of the landing strip.
'YOU DON'T HAVE A WALL'
Officials are investigating what role the localiser antenna, located at the end of
the runway to help in landing, played in the crash, including the concrete
embankment on which it was standing, transport ministry officials told a media
briefing.
"Normally, on an airport with a runway at the end, you don't have a wall," said
Christian Beckert, a flight safety expert and Lufthansa pilot based in Munich.
"You more have maybe an engineered material arresting system, which lets the
airplane sink into the ground a little bit and brakes (it)."
The crash killed mostly local residents who were returning from holidays in
Thailand, while two Thai nationals also died.
"I can only accept it, make peace with it," said Boonchuay Duangmanee, 77, the
father of one of the Thai victims. "When I think about it, I remind myself that it
was an accident. It's something that can happen to anyone. So, I've come to
terms with it because no matter what I do, my daughter won't come back."
On Monday morning, investigators were trying to identify some of the more
than two dozen remaining victims, as anguished families waited inside the
Muan airport terminal.
Park Han-shin, who lost his brother in the crash, said he was told by authorities
that his brother had been identified but he has not been able to see his body.
Park called on victims' families to unite in responding to the disaster, citing a
2014 ferry sinking that killed more than 300 people. Many relatives of the
victims of the Sewol ferry disaster complained it took authorities too long to
identify those killed and the cause of that accident.
Transportation ministry officials said the jet's flight data recorder was recovered
but appeared to have sustained some damage on the outside and it was not yet
clear whether the data was sufficiently intact to be analysed.
The recorder has been transported to Seoul and an analysis will begin when a
team of U.S. National Transportation Safety Board and Boeing officials arrive
in the country late on Monday, the officials told reporters.
Muan International Airport remains closed through Wednesday but the rest of
South Korea's international and regional airports including the main Incheon
International Airport were operating as scheduled.
Shares of Jeju Air hit their lowest level on record on Monday, trading as much
as 15.7% lower. Boeing's shares fell about 2%.
The 15-year-old plane's workmanship and design are unlikely to be factors in
the accident, but the crash underscores the "headline risk" to shares of airplane
makers, Wolfe Research analyst Myles Walton wrote in a note.
Under global aviation rules, South Korea will lead a civil investigation into the
crash and automatically involve the NTSB since the plane was designed and
built in the United States.
A large memorial has been set up in a county gym about 9 km (5 miles) from
the crash site, where people including acting President Choi came to pay
respects.
Choi, who is overseeing recovery efforts and the investigation, became acting
leader just three days ago after the country's president and prime minister were
impeached over the imposition of a short-lived martial law.
The aviation insurance industry could be looking at a claim for about $15
million to $20 million under the airline hull insurance policy, and total
passenger liability claims of $120 million to $180 million due to the crash,
according to Marcos Alvarez, managing director of global insurance ratings at
Morningstar DBRS.
(Nguồn: https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/south-koreas-acting-
leader-orders-inspection-airline-systems-after-countrys-2024-12-30/)
I. Words/ Phrases explanation (2.5 điểm/phần)
1. Emergency safety inspection
2. Belly-landed
3. Mayday warning
4. Flight data recorder
5. Headline risk
II. Comprehension questions (3 điểm/phần)
1. What are the immediate steps ordered by South Korea’s acting president
following the crash?
2. According to experts, what are the potential factors contributing to the
crash?
3. How did the role of the localiser antenna and concrete embankment come
into question during the investigation?
4. What does the article suggest about the significance of international
cooperation in the investigation process?
5. How did the crash impact Jeju Air’s financial status, and what were
analysts’ views on the broader implications for airplane manufacturers?
III. Summarize main ideas of paragraph
IV. Translation
"The 737-800 is one of the world’s most flown aircraft with a generally
strong safety record. It was developed well before the MAX variant involved in
a recent Boeing safety crisis. Investigators are examining bird strikes, whether
any of the aircraft's control systems were disabled, and the apparent rush by
the pilots to attempt a landing soon after declaring an emergency as possible
factors in the crash, fire and transportation officials have said."
