Taipei, Taiwan – the Jeju Airlines Flight 2216 crashes in South Korea Highlight the risks posed by bird strikes to commercial aircraft.

The pilots told air traffic control that their plane collided with a flock of birds shortly before Labor Day and made an emergency landing at Muan International Airport, according to South Korea’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport.

Video footage of the crash on Sunday showed the twin-engine Boeing 787-800 landing on the runway without using its landing gear.

The plane then slid across the runway before hitting a concrete wall and exploding and bursting into flames, killing 179 of the 181 people on board.

Bird strikes were likely only a partial cause of the fatal accident, said Geoffrey Thomas, editor-in-chief of Australia-based Airline Ratings magazine.

Thomas said evidence suggests the plane experienced an electrical malfunction because it stopped sending position data — known as “ADS-B data” — to air traffic control shortly after the Mayday announcement.

“It appears as if these pilots were dealing with successive failures, the exact nature of which we don’t know. What we do know is that the ADS-B data stopped, they did not deploy their flaps for landing, and they did not deploy the undercarriage.”

Thomas added: “Now, why these things happen, we don’t know, but it all happened after air traffic control warned of a flock of birds.”

It will likely take months before investigators determine the exact cause of the plane crash, the deadliest air disaster ever to occur on South Korean soil.

South Korean authorities are investigating the incident along with the US National Transportation Safety Board in accordance with global aviation regulations because the Boeing aircraft in question is made in the United States.

Bird strikes are a relatively common hazard of commercial aviation But it rarely leads to serious accidents.

The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) reported 19,400 wildlife strikes – including birds – at US airports in 2023 alone. U.S. airlines reported another 236 strikes in 55 countries that same year, according to Federal Aviation Administration data.

In the vast majority of cases, the most serious outcome is minor damage to aircraft, with such incidents costing the industry about $1.5 billion annually, according to Thomas.

Thomas said bird collisions are becoming more common due to the growth of air travel, with more than 120,000 commercial flights a day worldwide, and the development of quieter aircraft.

However, most often, aircraft that strike birds are completely unaffected, according to regulatory data.

Of the nearly 1,400 bird collisions in the UK in 2022, fewer than 100 caused aircraft damage or a flight interruption, according to the Civil Aviation Authority.

While bird collisions rarely cause problems, they have been involved in several serious accidents over the years.

Investigators probing the 2019 crash of Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 found that an object — likely a bird — activated a faulty flight control system that caused the plane’s nose to pitch downward.

In 2009, American Airlines Flight 1549 landed in New York’s Hudson River after colliding with a flock of birds shortly after takeoff from LaGuardia Airport. The Airbus A320-214 was able to make an emergency landing on the water without any fatalities.

In 1995, 24 Canadian and American pilots died after their plane crashed at an air base in Alaska after colliding with geese.

Doug Drury, an aviation expert at Australia’s CQUniversity, said bird strikes alone should not lead to a fatal accident.

Drury said air traffic control warned pilots that there were birds in the area, while the Boeing 737 should be able to make an emergency landing even after losing engine power.

“There are more questions than answers, unfortunately,” Drori told Al Jazeera.

He wondered why the pilots failed to slow the plane during landing, why they landed in the opposite direction of the runway, and why they landed outside the normal “landing zone” location.

“Pilots are trained to slow the aircraft to just above stall speed to reduce ground running distance. Why wasn’t the runway foamed with flame retardant material?,” Drury said.

Muan International Airport should also have had safety precautions to scare away flocks of birds, such as loudspeakers that simulate gun sounds, which are commonly used at airports around the world, he said.

South Korean newspaper Chosun Daily reported that environmental impact assessments at the airport recommended deploying sound cannons, laser beams and warning lights, but the implementation of such measures was delayed due to runway extension work.

South Korea began seven days of national mourning on Monday, with flags lowered at half-mast and acting President Choe Sang-mok heading to the crash site to pay his respects.

Officials said they have tentatively identified the remains of 141 victims so far.

While investigators work to determine the cause of the disaster, authorities said they are considering conducting a special inspection of all Boeing 737-800 aircraft operating in the country.

Choe, who took office just three days ago after the removal of the president and prime minister, said he also ordered authorities to conduct a comprehensive inspection of the country’s entire aviation sector.

“Once the accident recovery is completed, the Ministry of Transport is required to conduct an emergency safety inspection of the entire aircraft operating system to prevent recurrence of aircraft accidents,” Choi said.