Moments Before Crash: 'Should I Write a Will?'

At 8:57 a.m. on Sunday, the control tower at South Korea's Muan International Airport issued an alert to a Jeju Air flight approaching: "Caution: Bird Activity."

- Timothy W. Martin, Dasl Yoon, Soobin Kim and Benjamin Katz

The alert wasn't unusual at the airport, which is surrounded by several bird habitats that are home to various types of ducks and geese. But two minutes later, a call for help came from the cockpit: "Mayday, mayday, mayday, bird strike, bird strike, going around," one of the pilots said, according to South Korea's Transport Ministry.

About six minutes after the tower's warning, the plane crashed down without its landing gear deployed and smashed into a barrier at the end of the airport's only runway, bursting into flames. Of the 181 passengers and crew on board, just two survived. Both were flight attendants seated at the back of the Boeing 737-800 jet.

The Jeju Air flight's final chaotic moments now sit at the heart of a South Korean investigation into one of the deadliest aviation disasters in years.

The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board, Boeing and the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration will assist in the probe-which could take months, if not longer-to determine the cause. Investigators retrieved the aircraft's black boxes but, with one partially damaged, the decoding process could take months, South Korea's Transport Ministry said.

On Monday, South Korea's acting President Choi Sang mok ordered an emergency safety inspection of the country's entire airline operation system.

All 101 of the Boeing 737-800 jets operated by South Korean airlines will have the maintenance histories of the engine and landing gear inspected by the end of the week.

The generation of Boeing aircraft that includes the one used by Jeju Air is a predecessor of the 737 MAX. It also has one of the best safety records in the industry over its 27 years in operation.