The captain of the disaster airliner, "a colleague who was not compromised on safety"...A 'Veteran' from the Air Force.

ⓒYonhap News Agency

Captain A (45), who flew the plane in connection with the Jeju Air passenger disaster, was found to be an Air Force veteran with more than 6,800 hours of flight experience.

According to the aviation industry and the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, the captain of the disaster airliner was a former Air Force academic officer pilot and joined Jeju Air in 2014 and was promoted to captain in March 2019.

So far, the total flight time is 6,823 hours, and the flight time as a captain has been about 2,500 hours in the past five years.

At Jeju Air, you have to fly for more than 3,500 hours and work for more than three years after becoming a vice-captain to become a captain.

It is reported that A has been praised among his colleagues for his good flying skills, such as working as a flight instructor before joining Jeju Air. Colleagues describe him as "a colleague who had no compromise on safety" and "a person who would have done his best until the end in an urgent situation.""Looking at the video (at the time of the accident), it seems that A did not let go of the control until the end," said B, who worked with

A. "There is a control called reverse propulsion for deceleration, but it seems that he did not let go until he hit it."

B continued, "I saw on the news that he criticized why he didn't dump fuel at the time of the accident," adding, "The aircraft that caused the accident does not have that function, and I know well because I run the same plane as the model that caused the accident."

On the other hand, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said, "It is true that the accident pilot's negligence is also subject to investigation, but we disclosed his career because there are unfounded stories such as allegations of underqualification."

Reporter Park Sun-young of Digital News Team