David Learmount, Operations & Safety Editor at Flight Global, analyzes the information so far available concerning the crash of Asiana Airlines Flight 214, a Boeing 777, at San Francisco airport last week. It's the most authoritative review of what happened that I've come across so far.
It's looking more and more as if the crash was caused solely by pilot and/or crew error. If that's sustained, I suspect their aviation careers are over. Sadly, so are the lives of two passengers, and several dozen more will be affected by their injuries for months to come - some for the rest of their lives.
Peter
3 comments:
Basically, too slow and too low.
I feel several factors combined to cause this very avoidable tragedy:
1) FOUR On deck causes too many distractions, especially at the critical final approach.
Captain + training officer serving as 1st officer + 2 more (relief crew, I assume since it was a 10 hr flight) All on the flight deck.
All hands on deck is generally the standard procedure prior to and during approach.
However, Sometimes too many cooks can spoil the broth.
2) Possible/probable auto-pilot / auto-throttle disabled to give a 777 novice (42 hrs previous) pilot hands on control.
The Japan Times raised another possible issue:
Korean culture is immensely hierarchical. If the lead pilot was doing something wrong, the first officer isn't going to try to correct the lead pilot. Attempting to correct the lead pilot is career suicide.
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2013/07/10/asia-pacific/did-korean-culture-contribute-to-asiana-crash-in-san-francisco/#at_pco=cfd-1.0
I really hope this was dealt with back in the early 2000s, and is not an issue 14 years later!
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