Commercial aviation faced its deadliest year since 2018 following the tragic Jeju Air Co. disaster in South Korea and the recent downing of an Azerbaijan Airlines plane. With 318 fatalities onboard passenger aircraft, this year marked a stark contrast to the record-setting safety achieved in 2023.
The year began and ended with harrowing incidents in Japan and South Korea during attempted landings, underscoring the risks involved in these critical phases of flight. Despite the rarity of fatal aviation accidents, a single major incident can swiftly transform a statistically safe year into one marked by tragic losses.
The Jeju Air crash, the worst civil air accident in South Korea's history, left all but two of the 181 occupants of the Boeing 737-800 dead. As investigators piece together the events leading up to the crash, questions remain about the role of a reported bird strike, the failure to extend flaps, and the non-deployment of landing gear.
Following the crash, Korean authorities mandated maintenance record checks for 101 other 737-800s in operation among local airlines. Meanwhile, investigations into the cockpit voice recorder and flight data device are expected to provide crucial insights into the sequence of events and the crew's actions.
Other aviation tragedies in 2024 included a fatal collision at Tokyo's Haneda Airport, a deadly case of severe turbulence over Myanmar, and a heartbreaking crash in Nepal claiming 18 lives. Conflicts also influenced aviation fatalities, with the downing of the Azerbaijan Airlines plane in Kazakhstan reportedly being accidental.
While global conflicts and unpredictable events have contributed to the spike in fatalities this year, experts emphasize that aviation safety has continuously improved over the long term. Lessons learned from past incidents have led to enhanced safety measures and survival protocols, ultimately mitigating the impact of accidents and increasing the likelihood of passenger survival.
Looking ahead, despite the challenges of 2024, the consensus among aviation safety experts remains optimistic. As Jan-Arwed Richter, an aviation safety consultant, suggests, this year may be viewed as an outlier in the broader context of improving aviation safety over the decades.