Terrible death of two Chinese schoolgirls, 16, whose bodies were found on runway

Mail Online ^

[nuconvert]

Terrible death of two Chinese schoolgirls, 16, whose bodies were found on runway after Boeing 777 crash at San Francisco airport

The two victims who perished as an Asiana Airlines Boeing 777 crashed and burst into flames as it came to land at San Francisco International Airport on Saturday morning have been identified as Chinese schoolgirls who were on a class trip. The bodies of Ye Mengyuan and Wang Linjia, both 16, were found on the runway after the tail of the plane, which was flying from Seoul in South Korea with 307 people on board, was ripped off as the aircraft hit the approach area of the runway as it came in for landing shortly before 11.30am PDT.

The girls, who were identified by Chinese state media on Sunday, were part of a group of 29 students and five teachers who had set off from Jiangshan Middle School - a highly competitive school in Zhejiang in eastern China. They were all seated near the back of the plane.

[nuconvert]

Many photos & videos at link

[CodeToad]

One of the videos from yesterday showed a yellow drape over what seemed to be a body. It would have seemed that if everyone was seated that no one would have been throw out the back.

[FrdmLvr]

China can’t afford to lose many females of that generation.

[homegroan]

whenever my flight has landed or sometimes even close to it, there are people removing their seatbelts-I could hear the clicking sound-not saying it’s what happened but it’s possible...or maybe their belts weren’t fastened properly.

So very very sad...

[nuconvert]

“It would have seemed that if everyone was seated that no one would have been throw out the back.”

I think you can see seats hanging out the back of the plane. Who knows what happened with the seat bolts when the tail section broke off.

[justlurking]

t would have seemed that if everyone was seated that no one would have been throw out the back.

The seat frames on airliners are really flimsy. A really hard impact could shake one loose.

However, it's more likely that a seat belt failed, or wasn't buckled at all.

I'm wondering if the black box in the tail has an accelerometer that would be able to measure the initial impact. I think it would have been significant.

[BradyLS]

I remember a crash that happened years ago where the only survivor was a child who was sitting in back end of the cabin. When that was discovered, the rush was on to reserve seats as close to the tail as possible. But no place is really safe in a crash.

[Usagi_yo]

I’m trying to figure out why they say it will take years to figure out what went wrong when you can see the damage to the seawall on the runway approach.

Have you ever landed at that airport? It’s one of the scariest I’ve ever landed at. As a passenger looking out of the window you see nothing but water until mere moments before you touch down over the runway. It’s easy to believe the plane came in too shallow and/or possibly too much nose up tail down.

So one of the question is was the plane on some type of automated runway approach (ILS) or under manual control?

[DAC21]

According to my Sister whom fly’s 777 exclusively with Delta, the rear most seats are for flight Attendants near the Galley. Some are saying that the two Chinese Girls were thrown from the Plane? If so strange it wouldn't have been the Flight Attendants.

[bubbacluck]

I read that ILS or Glidepath was shut off. Apparently it has been shut off for a while.

[UCANSEE2]

It would have seemed that if everyone was seated that no one would have been throw out the back.

And since everything is secured in an airliner before it starts landing, there is no reason for the debris all over the runway. It seems you are ignoring some important factors.

The tail section was torn off (including the part of the fuselage it was attached to. The flooring and airframe were ripped to shreds. The seats and seat belts are attached to the flooring and airframe. The plane did a flat (on the runway) 100 degree spin with the tail section gone, and the floor ripped completely apart.

It seems to me that the rest of the passengers were just very, very, lucky.

Maybe those two girls didn't have their seatbelts on. If their seats are still 'in' the plane, then that is likely. If their seats are not... then there should be no question what happened.

[UCANSEE2]

They were all seated near the back of the plane.

P.S. from article : " They were all seated near the back of the plane."

[DAC21]

“Maybe in the crapper getting primped to land”

So eloquently stated

[UCANSEE2]

Considering that the tail section was ripped completely off and that the plane did a 180 on the grass, it’s a miracle that only two people were ejected from the plane like a nerf missile.

[nuconvert]

There was an initial report that the coast gurad found a body in the water and my first thought was that it was a flight attendant.

[RedElement]

The pictures of the plane show the rear pressure bulkhead disrupted. They may have been ejected in their seats.

[UCANSEE2]

Let's see the damage done to the tail section. That may help answer our questions.

Here's what it looked like before the crash.

[Kip Russell]

Very sad, but the fact remains that flying is (statistically) very safe. Heck, even Superman says so:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JwUhTlnOKh8

[brityank]

Ping to XHogPilot - interesting ATC comm recording about two-thirds of the way down. Thanks for your expertise and info on the B777 and flight parameters. FR truly has experts in every field!