NTSB Says Too Early to Rule Anything Out in Asiana Crash

In a press conference on Sunday, July 7, National Transportation Safety Board Chairman Deborah Hersman said that “it is too early to rule anything out,” in the July 6 crash of Asiana Flight 214 at San Francisco International Airport.

The 10-hour flight, which originated in Shanghai, crashed on landing after first hitting the seawall at the airport, Hersman said. Two 16-year old girls traveling from China were killed and over 180 were injured.

Hersman said that the NTSB will be on the scene “for at least a week” in order to study conditions that led the aircraft, a Boeing 777, to crash. A similar crash on landing of a Boeing 777 at Heathrow airport in 2008 will also be studied although Hersman said that incident involved different engines and adverse weather.

Weather at San Francisco airport was clear and visibility was 10 miles. Although a bad weather landing system called Glide Path, which helps pilots land in adverse weather, was not available at the time of the crash, visibility was not an issue and the system is not considered essential for safe landings.

Reports have led experts to say that the flight was landing too low and too slow. Hersman said that the cockpit recorder does show that commands for increased power and speed were recorded. Hersman also said that Boeing executives and experts were also on the scene and that the NTSB was getting “great cooperation from all the parties we are working with.”

She said that human error including drug use and sleep deprivation as well as crew rotation issues would be looked into along with technical issues. Hersman also pointed out the fact that so many passengers survived a potentially deadly crash showed that crew safety training and passenger cooperation were key elements in the relatively low casualty figures in the crash.

Hersman also said that the NTSB was looking for video or photographic records of the crash which can be submitted via the agency’s website. An NTSB Twitter account is also being updated in real time with breaking information.

UPDATE: Associated press said on July 7 that the pilot of Asiana 214 was in training to pilot a Boeing 777 and this was the first time he piloted this type of aircraft into San Francisco International Airport. Asiana said on July 8 that investigators from the airline were on the scene and that passengers' family members were being flown by the airline into San Francisco.

Source: Travel Pulse, http://www.travelpulse.com/ntsb-says-too-early-to-rule-anything-out-in-asiana-crash.html