The exact cause of the weekend crash of an LG-owned helicopter into an apartment building in Seoul is still unknown, but criticism is mounting against the firm for operating the chopper in poor weather conditions.

The bone of contention is whether LG Electronics had forced the pilots to make the pick-up at Jamsil, or they made the decision on their own.

In either case, however, LG will not be able to avoid criticism that it had chosen convenience over safety, industry watchers said.

The U.S.-made Sikorsky S-76C++ helicopter crashed into the IPARK apartment complex in Gangnam, Seoul, resulting in the deaths of the two pilots on board, Park In-kyu, 58, and Koh Jong-jin, 37.

No casualties of apartment residents were reported, according to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport.

The collision shattered the windows and damaged the outer wall of the building spanning the 21st to 27th floors.

The crash occurred about 10 minutes after the chopper took off from Gimpo International Airport in western Seoul at 8:46 a.m. to head for Jamsil.

The electronics firm said the helicopter was scheduled to pick up LG executives including chief technology officer Ahn Seung-kwon for a business trip to the city of Jeonju, either from the airport in Gimpo or the Jamsil heliport depending on the weather conditions.

Two hours before takeoff, chief pilot Park suggested picking up the passengers from Gimpo instead of heading out to Jamsil due to thick fog. He later confirmed that he would pick up the officials at Jamsil as visibility had improved.

LG currently denies news reports that it urged the pilot to operate the chopper.

“There was no reason to risk the safety of LG officials including the pilots,” LG Electronics said in a statement after the accident.

Choppers are commonly deployed by companies for the sake of convenience and to save time. There is a heliport on the roof of LG Twin Tower in Yeouido. LG earlier said that not just executives, but also lower-level employees and engineers are flown on choppers whenever the situation calls for it. Foreign corporate buyers are also frequent passengers.

LG Electronics, POSCO, Hyundai Motor, SK Telecom, Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering Co., and Hanwha Chemical each own at least one chopper worth up to 100 billion won.

Korean Air Lines, the country’s top airline company, and Samsung Techwin, a leading weapons maker in Korea, have six and four helicopters, respectively.

Most of the firms, including POSCO, Hyundai Motor and Hanwha Chemical, have the same model as the one that collided on Saturday.

The family of the deceased chief pilot, meanwhile, insists that Park had been anxious about flying in the fog despite being a veteran pilot with about 7,000 hours of flight time. He started working for LG in 1999.

Both Park and his copilot Koh had experience in piloting presidential helicopters in the military, serving as air force pilots for 21 and 13 years, respectively.

LG said it would make its full to apartment effort to repair the damage, and compensate the residents and the pilots.

The Land Ministry said Sunday that it would carry out special safety checks on helicopters owned by 33 private firms from Monday through December.

By Kim Young-won (wone0102@heraldcorp.com)