Already 30 minutes behind schedule, the pilot flying the Jeju Air jet with 181 people on board was preparing to land at his destination in southwestern South Korea on Sunday morning when the control tower warned him about flocks of birds in the area.

       Two minutes later, at 8:59 a.m., the pilot reported a “bird strike” and “emergency,” officials said. He told the air traffic control tower at Muan International Airport that he would do “a go-around,” meaning he would abort his first landing attempt and circle in the air to prepare for a second attempt. But he apparently did not have enough time to go all the way around.

       Instead, just a minute later, the veteran pilot — with nearly 7,000 flight hours in his career — was approaching the runway from the opposite direction, from north to south. And three minutes later, at 9:03 a.m., his plane, Jeju Air Flight 7C2216, slammed into a concrete structure off the southern end of the runway in a ball of flames.

       All but two of the 181 people on board were killed, most of them South Koreans returning home after a Christmas vacation in Thailand. The crash was the worst aviation disaster on South Korean soil and the deadliest worldwide since that of Lion Air Flight 610 in 2018, when all 189 people on board died.

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       As officials were racing to investigate the crash, a central question has emerged among analysts: What happened during the four minutes between the pilot’s urgent report of bird strike and the plane’s fatal crash?

       8:59 a.m.

       The pilot reported a bird strike

       and issued a distress call.

       Seoul

       North

       SOUTH

       KOREA

       Muan

       9:00 a.m.

       After failing to land facing north as

       planned, the plane approached

       the runway facing south.

       Path of turn

       unknown

       Passenger

       terminal

       9:02 a.m.

       The plane made contact with

       the runway near here, without its landing gear lowered.

       MUAN

       INTERNATIONAL

       AIRPORT

       The plane skidded

       down the runway on its

       belly at high speed.

       9:03 a.m.

       The plane hit a concrete

       structure after the end of the

       runway and burst into flames.

       Airport

       perimeter

       fence

       0.2 miles

       MUAN

       INTERNATIONAL

       AIRPORT

       8:59 a.m.

       The pilot reported a

       bird strike and issued

       a distress call.

       North

       9:00 a.m.

       After failing to land facing

       north as planned, the

       plane approached the

       runway facing south.

       Path of turn

       unknown

       9:02 a.m.

       The plane made contact with

       the runway near here, without

       its landing gear lowered.

       Passenger

       terminal

       The plane skidded

       down the runway on its

       belly at high speed.

       9:03 a.m.

       The plane hit a concrete

       structure after the end of the

       runway and burst into flames.

       Airport

       perimeter

       fence

       Seoul

       SOUTH

       KOREA

       Muan

       0.2 miles

       Sources: South Korean transport ministry; satellite image from ESRI

       By Agnes Chang

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