The newest warning got here 10 days earlier than the deadliest air crash in South Korea.

A dozen officers gathered inside a room at Muan Worldwide Airport for a gathering of a chicken strike prevention committee, the place they mentioned the variety of plane being hit by birds, with knowledge exhibiting a bounce in incidents over the previous couple of years.

One official, from one of many nation’s aviation coaching institutes, expressed concern that planes coming in to land usually encountered flocks of birds by the shoreline, in line with a file of the assembly obtained by a lawmaker. To what extent is it potential to maintain the birds away? the official requested.

The reply wasn’t reassuring. There weren’t sufficient individuals and vehicles deployed on the airport to maintain birds away, and sounds from loudspeakers used to broadcast noises to scare birds off weren’t robust sufficient to achieve far sufficient past the airport, stated an official from the corporate that managed the airport’s amenities. He famous that they “have been attempting their finest.”

Then, on Dec. 29, the pilot of Jeju Air Flight 2216 declared “Mayday! Mayday! Mayday!” and instructed air site visitors controllers there had been a chicken strike because the aircraft was making its descent. After making a pointy flip, the jet landed on its stomach, slid down the runway and rammed right into a concrete barrier, exploding right into a fireball that killed 179 of the 181 individuals on board.

Investigators haven’t recognized the explanations for the crash and what position, if any, a chicken strike might need performed. However the nation’s transport ministry stated chicken feathers and blood have been present in each of the jet’s engines. The stays have been recognized as being from the Baikal teal, a migratory duck frequent to South Korea in winter that usually flies in flocks of as much as tens and even a whole lot of 1000’s.

The Dec. 19 assembly was not the primary warning airport operators had acquired about birds. The risks had been flagged for many years, courting again to even earlier than the Muan airport opened in 2007, in line with a New York Occasions examination of 1000’s of pages of presidency paperwork, interviews with dozens of individuals, and a go to to the wetlands surrounding the airport within the nation’s southwest. Environmental assessments in 1998 and 2008 additionally famous there have been many species of birds dwelling near the airport.

Most starkly, in 2020, when the airport started renovations that would come with the extension of its runway, South Korea’s Environmental Influence Evaluation service stated there was “a excessive threat of chicken strikes throughout takeoff and touchdown.” It suggested that measures have been wanted to scale back the chance.

The Korea Airports Company stated in response to questions from The Occasions that to forestall chicken strikes it had used autos and noise makers to disperse flocks of birds and had performed environmental surveys to observe the airport’s surrounding habitats. The corporate stated extra loudspeakers have been put in on airport premises after the assembly on Dec. 19.

However like most smaller airports in South Korea, Muan nonetheless lacked thermal imaging cameras and chicken detection radar used to alert air site visitors controllers and pilots to the presence of birds, in line with the federal government.

Airports in every single place are suggested to have such measures in place, in line with tips from the Worldwide Civil Aviation Group, a United Nations company that units international requirements for the aviation business.

“The rules are there, however individuals have been breaking them with none repercussions,” says Dr. Nial Moores, the nationwide director of Birds Korea, a chicken conservation group. “They have been warned concerning the threat of a chicken strike,” he added. “How come nothing has modified?”

Along with failing to comply with worldwide tips, the airport’s operators additionally breached home security rules.

On the day of the crash in Muan, just one individual was on obligation to be careful for birds, as a substitute of a minimal of two that authorities guidelines require, in line with lawmakers at a parliamentary committee listening to into the catastrophe.

That chicken patroller was on the finish of a 15-hour evening shift, the interval when the overwhelming majority of chicken strikes happen, in line with a presentation by Moon Geum-joo, a lawmaker, on the committee listening to. Joo Jong-wan, the top of the transport ministry’s aviation coverage, conceded that the airport’s patrol was understaffed and stated all airports would meet the minimal staffing sooner or later.

The Korea Airports Company stated it had adhered to authorities requirements and was hiring extra employees to forestall chicken collisions. The transport ministry declined to remark.

As well as, not less than one individual required to attend the assembly of the chicken strike prevention committee had missed the one on Dec. 19, an official from the Korea Airports Company acknowledged on the parliamentary listening to. The state-owned firm operates nearly all of South Korea’s airports, together with the one in Muan.

“It’s a disgrace that they’ve recognized about their shortcomings for years, however nothing has truly been carried out to enhance,” stated Kwon Hyang-Yup, an opposition lawmaker who obtained the chicken security committee report.

Whereas airplane strikes with wildlife are not uncommon, most don’t trigger planes to crash. Out of almost 20,000 wildlife strikes in the USA in 2023, round 4 p.c brought about harm to the aircraft.

Because the crash, South Korea’s authorities has pledged 247 billion gained (round $170 million) over three years to enhance bird-strike prevention measures in any respect the nation’s airports. Deliberate measures embody putting in chicken detection gadgets and implementing a nationwide radar mannequin to alert individuals in management towers, patrollers on the bottom and pilots to the presence of birds.

Some specialists ask whether or not the Muan airport ought to have been constructed in any respect due to the abundance of birds within the wetlands surrounding it. The airport has not less than twice reported the best variety of chicken strikes in a foreign country’s 15 airports over the previous 5 years, with six instances in 2024, up from two the earlier yr.

Its charge of chicken strikes was 10 instances that of Incheon Worldwide Airport, the nation’s largest, in line with knowledge launched by Ms. Kwon, the lawmaker. Incheon, which additionally lies near chicken habitats, has recognized almost 100 species of birds in its vicinity. It has 4 thermal imaging cameras, two gadgets that emit bird-repelling noises, and 48 employees assigned to chicken management, in line with an airport consultant.

Ju Yung-Ki, a researcher and conservationist who has visited the Muan space repeatedly in recent times, was working in his workplace on Dec. 29 when he realized concerning the aircraft crash.

“I had at all times thought there was a threat of a chicken strike there,” stated Mr. Ju, the director of the Ecoculture Institute. Mr. Ju had flown out and in of the Muan airport a number of instances, regardless of his considerations.

After listening to information of the crash, he traveled round 70 miles from his residence in Jeonju, northeast of Muan, to a lake close to the airport and arrived round 4:30 p.m. He might see the charred tail of the aircraft and the wreckage on the finish of the runway. “It was horrific,” he stated, including that he shed tears enthusiastic about the individuals who had died.

As that afternoon progressed, he additionally positioned flocks of as much as 300,000 Baikal teals round 18 miles from the airport. They fly not less than that distance to seek for meals, and he noticed with binoculars and a telescope that the airport was of their day by day flight path.

The Baikal teal isn’t notably large, at round 16 inches lengthy with an eight-inch wingspan. However the geese transfer in giant, agile flocks that may attain as many as 1,000,000 in quantity, stated Dr. Moores of Birds Korea. They breed in Siberia and arrive on the southwestern coast of South Korea in October and keep by early March.

Muan, nearly 200 miles south of Seoul, lies among the many marshy grasslands and reservoirs throughout the southwestern peninsula, the place the duck and different species of birds roost in pockets of calm water. Native enterprise house owners stated that flocks of birds have been most frequently seen at a rustic membership close to the airport; round 4 miles away.

An enforcement regulation connected to South Korea’s Airport Services Act in 2017 stipulates that an airport can’t be constructed inside eight kilometers, or about 5 miles, of a chicken sanctuary or recreation reserve. However, in line with the nation’s setting ministry, there is just one such sanctuary in Muan, and that lies about 12 miles from the airport.

Conservationists say the truth is totally different. They are saying the time period sanctuary — labeled as a collective habitat and breeding floor for endangered wildlife — ignores most of the area’s populous chicken habitats. A map by the Korean Office of Civil Aviation identifies 4 areas surrounding the Muan airport the place birds feed and roost.

A few of these spots are as shut as just a little over a mile from the airport. On one morning in February, a whole lot of birds flew overhead at round this distance. Bigger birds flew in a “V” formation, whereas smaller ones wove out and in in an aerial dance.

“It’s not a matter of whether or not the Muan Worldwide Airport is close to a sanctuary or not,” Mr. Ju stated. “The very fact is that there are lots of birds that dwell there.”

The choice on whether or not an space is a sanctuary lies with the mayor or governor, in line with South Korea’s Wildlife Safety and Administration Act. There are round 400 of those protected areas nationwide, in line with the Ministry of Surroundings.

Specialists say that regardless of what number of preventive efforts are undertaken, chicken strikes can’t be completely eradicated. “The apparent factor is to not construct an airport the place there are lots of birds,” stated Keith Mackey, an American aviation knowledgeable and security marketing consultant primarily based in Ocala, Fla.

Different strategies that might be deployed to discourage birds embody utilizing brightly coloured paint on the runway and drones to disperse close by flocks, Mr. Mackey stated.

Muan’s airport has been closed for the reason that Dec. 29 crash and won’t resume business flights till April 18 on the earliest. The airport just lately resumed medical and coaching flights.

South Korea has formidable plans to construct 10 airports over the subsequent few many years in response to booming regional demand for elevated abroad journey. A number of can even be alongside the western shoreline. One is of specific concern to conservationists: in Saemangeum, about 65 miles north of Muan.

The proposed airport, which is scheduled to open in 2029, lies inside 4 miles of the Seocheon Tidal Flat, a UNESCO Heritage Web site that’s residence to dozens of nationally protected wildlife species together with birds, in line with Kim Nahee, an activist who’s protesting in opposition to the development of the brand new airport.

Officers in North Jeolla Province, the place Saemangeum is, stated “there was no infrastructure that may disturb the flight path of birds,” citing an evaluation it had acquired from authorities environmental company’s evaluation.

“They shouldn’t have constructed the Muan Worldwide Airport the place they did,” Ms. Kim stated. “This may’t occur once more.”