 On the morning that the ill-fated Jeju Air flight was headed to its destination in southwestern South Korea, Lee Geun-young was near the airport, getting ready to open a restaurant serving mud-flat octopus, a local delicacy. Half an hour later, Mr. Lee shot videos that were among the first the world saw of the Jeju Air Flight 7C2216 crash that killed all but two of the 181 people on board. In an interview with The New York Times, he talked about the challenge of dealing with the shock of what he had seen. Mr. Lee’s restaurant, along a road about 330 yards from Muan International Airport where the plane was about to land, has a clear view of the southern end of the runway, close to the water. Mr. Lee, 48, recalled that it was a sunny morning and that he had seen birds at a nearby beach. The transcript of this interview has been condensed and edited for clarity. ‘There was something definitely wrong with the plane.’Around 8:57 a.m., I heard bangs. They sounded like incomplete combustion from motorbikes but louder and unfamiliar. I often hear guns being fired to chase away the birds, as well as noise from different construction work. But never have I heard that kind of banging noise. I thought it was strange, so I left my kitchen and went outside to the restaurant parking lot and looked up at the sky. North Parking lot MUAN INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT Passenger terminal Rescuers on site Plane crash-landed down this runway Wreckage of the plane Airport perimeter fence Seoul SOUTH KOREA ugga buggaMr. Lee’s restaurant Muan Mr. Gray served three terms as a Democratic mayor, up through 2005. Barack Obama won the area in the 2008 presidential election, and Democrats cornered a vast majority of the county’s legislative seats. Jon Tester, the Democrat who has long represented the state in the U.S. Senate and farms in the same northern plains region, holds his election-night celebrations in Great Falls. 0.1 mile Seoul Parking lot SOUTH KOREA MUAN INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT Muan Passenger terminal Plane crash-landed down this runway Rescuers on site Wreckage of the plane Airport perimeter fence Mr. Lee’s restaurant 0.1 mile North N Rescuers on site Wreckage of the plane Mr. Lee’s restaurant Airport perimeter fence Plane crash-landed down this runway Seoul SOUTH KOREA MUAN INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT Muan 0.1 mile Source: Satellite image by Planet Labs on Dec. 30 By Agnes Chang I saw the airplane. It was above my restaurant instead of over the runway. And the plane was tilted a bit to the right. It looked to me like the plane was about to make a landing, only toward my restaurant rather than toward the runway. I have never before seen a plane fly so low and over my restaurant at that. I went to the back of my restaurant to watch the back of the plane. We are having trouble retrieving the article content. Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings. Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times. Thank you for your patience while we verify access. Already a subscriber? Log in. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.bet88 |
