All South Korean airports will need to implement bird detection cameras and thermal imaging radars after an air disaster in December last year claimed the lives of 179 people.
The deployment is set to happen in 2026.
Investigators said last week that they had found proof of a bird strike on the Boeing 737-800 plane – with feathers and blood marks found on both the plane’s engines.
An investigation into the tragedy – the most fatal on South Korean soil – is still underway but will focus on the role of the bird strike as well as a concrete barrier at the end of the runway, which the plane crashed into after making an emergency landing.
“Bird detection radars will be set up at all airports to enhance early detection of remote birds and improve response measures for aircraft,” said the Ministry of Land in a statement on Thursday.
Bird detection radar identifies the size of birds and their movement routes and transmits this information to air traffic controllers.
The ministry added that all airports would also need to be fitted with at least one thermal imaging camera.
Currently, only four airports in South Korea are equipped with thermal imaging cameras. It is uncertain if any of them have bird detection radars installed.
Sites that draw birds, like rubbish dumps, must also be relocated away from airports.
Earlier last month, South Korea revealed that seven airports would have their runway safety areas modified following a review of all the country’s airports that was carried out after the crash.
The reason for the crash is still unknown, but air safety experts had earlier said the number of fatalities could have been much lower if not for the obstruction that the plane collided with after making an emergency landing.
On 29 December, the plane, from budget airline Jeju Air, had departed from Bangkok and was en route to Muan International Airport in the country’s southwest.
At about 08:57 local time, three minutes after pilots made contact with the airport, the control tower warned the crew to be aware of “bird activity.”
At 08:59, the pilot reported that the plane had hit a bird and declared a mayday alert.
The pilot then requested permission to land from the opposing direction, during which it touched down without its landing gear engaged. It overshot the runway and burst into flames after colliding with the concrete barrier, a preliminary investigation report determined.
Flight data and cockpit voice recorders ceased recording four minutes before the catastrophe, an investigation into the black boxes later discovered.
The 179 passengers onboard the Boeing B737-800 plane were aged between three and 78 years old, although most were in their 40s, 50s, and 60s. Two cabin crew members were the only individuals to survive.
