Catastrophic pilot mistakes caused the plane crash which killed 179 in South Korea last December, a damning investigation has found.
On December 29, a Jeju Air Boeing 737 was approaching Muan Airport from Bangkok when it collided with what investigators believe was a flock of ducks.
But crew deactivated the plane's functioning engine rather than the one damaged by the bird strike, according to the probe.
Officials revealed that instead of shutting down the compromised right engine, the pilots mistakenly cut power to the left engine, which was still running.
As a result, the aircraft was left without power as it attempted to land.
REUTERS
|Catastrophic pilot mistakes directly led to the plane crash which killed 179 in South Korea last December
The stricken aircraft continued its approach into Muan at high speed with its landing gear still raised.
Pilots also ignored standard procedure for landing after a bird strike on approach.
They climbed back up, performed unorthodox manoeuvres, and turned to make a rushed landing in the opposite direction on the same runway.
The plane then overshot the tarmac before colliding with a reinforced barrier and bursting into flames.
Just two cabin crew members positioned at the aircraft's tail section managed to escape the blaze alive.
GETTY
|Just two cabin crew members positioned at the aircraft's tail section managed to escape alive
"A pilot may have mistakenly turned off the engine," investigators said in their assessment.
Officials told South Korea's MBN television: "The pilot should have turned off the right engine, which was severely damaged by the bird strike, but he turned off the left engine, which was spinning, and the black box and power went out."
Relatives of those killed reacted furiously to the preliminary findings during a chaotic Saturday press briefing.
Bereaved family members burst into the conference room, with one man shouting: "They've just blamed it all on the pilots."
Officials then hurriedly collected report copies from journalists present, insisting the document hadn't been formally published.
Kim Yu-Jin, representing the victims' families, dismissed the conclusions as "unconvincing" and warned that they might affect what kind of payout relatives might receive.
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|PICTURED: Jeju Air CEO Kim E-Bae and officials bow to apologise for the crash at Muan International Airport
"We were only given their conclusions," she said.
Despite relatives' protests, investigators maintain their position that no mechanical defects contributed to what has become South Korea's deadliest aviation accident in recent memory.
And the probe faces further roadblocks - the aircraft's recording devices stopped functioning four minutes prior to impact, creating gaps in the crash timeline.
"We have repeatedly asked them to be careful about these disclosures because the way that the results of the investigation are communicated can have an impact on the compensation that families receive," Kim added.