Posted on 07/10/2013 7:09:15 PM PDT by knak
The flying pilot of Asiana Airlines Flight 214 told National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) officials that he was "blinded" temporarily by a flash of light at 500 feet, or 34 seconds before impact -- about the same time the pilots realized they were flying too low and going too slow. The NTSB doesn't know what caused the flash, and is continuing to investigate.
At Wednesday's NTSB briefing, NTSB Chairwoman Deborah Hersman released information from the board's investigation. She detailed who was on the crew, the communications between air traffic control and the Asiana pilots, and the plane's evacuation.
Evacuation delayed 90 seconds
Additionally, crash pilots initially told flight attendants not to evacuate. A flight attendant seated in the middle of the plane looked over and saw fire outside the plane window and sent his colleague to the front of the plane to communicate with the head flight attendant. With the knowledge of the fire, the flight attendants then began to evacuate the plane, staring about a minute and a half after the crash.
NTSB officials are also saying that three flight attendants, not two, were ejected from the back of the aircraft when it hit the ground.
Pilot error or plane malfunction?
Hersman explained that there are many levels of automation on an airplane, including auto-pilot and auto-throttle. Throttle refers to the plane's power and pilots use auto-throttle to control speed and help with ascent and descent. Hersman said that in the last 2½ minutes before the Asiana flight crashed, there were multiple auto-pilot and auto-throttle modes in use.
“There are multiple modes being engaged," Hersman said. "We need to understand how they work together and what it means. We still have some work to do in this area.” The NTSB has not sorted out whether pilots knew what they were doing or if there was a malfunction.
One place where the aircraft did malfunction was in deploying evacuation slides. Two flight attendants on the right side of the plane were pinned by evacuation slides that inflated inside the aircraft after impact. “The evacuation slide normally inflates when it’s in the armed position and the door is opened," Hersman said. "It is unknown at this time why the doors inflated inside the aircraft.”
SFO runway cleanup
The NTSB will release the runway to SFO in the next 24 hours, if not by tonight, but the airport will still have a lot to clean up before the runway can reopen. Airport employees will have to remove plane debris and chunks of seawall dragged onto the runway, repair runway systems and rebuild the seawall before runway 28L will be back in service. That likely means more delays at SFO.
They were life rafts
Why do terrorist need bombs?
Just go buy a $7.50 laser light...You can sit in your backyard and just watch them drop out of the sky’s..
I better watch it. Loose lips...you know...
“wrapped up like a douche?”
FWIW, I long thought the lyrics were as you’re putting it. But I heard on a local rock station that they’re talking about a Deuce, the Classic 1920’s (I think) American automobile.
Manufactured excuse to justify his total screw up!
He was totally out of configuration and off glide slope further than 4 miles out that should have made him declare a missed approach and gone around!!!
A sorry pile of crap that should never be allowed back in the cockpit!
Also known as the 'ohnosecond'.
A ‘deuce’ is a ‘32 Ford.
I always thought it was ‘douche’, too. Didn’t make a lot of sense, but WTF?
“Wrapped up like a douche” = “revved up like a Deuce”
It was probably the strobe light indicator on the cockpit dashboard..
It flashes straight into pilots for several minutes to alert the pilot the strobes are on and operational.
LOL!!!
Typically one sees a flash of light just prior to killing two people, destroying a quarter billion dollars of equipment and getting fired.
That’ll teach him not to swig from his flask just as he’s trying to land.
Of course you maybe can't help yourself?
Blinded by the light,
revved up like a deuce,
another runner in the night
Blinded by the light,
revved up like a deuce,
another runner in the night
Blinded by the light,
revved up like a deuce,
another runner in the night
Madman drummers bummers,
Indians in the summer with a teenage diplomat
In the dumps with the mumps as the adolescent pumps his way into his hat
With a boulder on my shoulder, feelin’ kinda older,
I tripped the merry-go-round
With this very unpleasin’, sneezin’ and wheezin,
the calliope crashed to the ground
The calliope crashed to the ground
But she was...
Blinded by the light,
revved up like a deuce,
runner in the night
Blinded by the light,
revved up like a deuce,
another runner in the night
Blinded by the light,
revved up like a deuce,
another runner in the night
Blinded by the light,
revved up like a deuce,
another runner in the night
Some silicone sister with a manager mister told me I go what it takes
She said “I’ll turn you on sonny to something strong,
play the song with the funky break”
And go-cart Mozart was checkin’ out the weather chart to see if it was safe outside
And little Early-Pearly came by in his curly-wurly and asked me if I needed a ride
Asked me if I needed a ride
But she was...
Blinded by the light,
revved up like a deuce,
another runner in the night
Blinded by the light
She got down but she never got tired
She’s gonna make it through the night
She’s gonna make it through the night
But mama, that’s where the fun is
But mama, that’s where the fun is
Mama always told me not to look into the eye’s of the sun
But mama, that’s where the fun is
Some brimstone baritone anticyclone rolling stone preacher from the east
Says, “Dethrone the dictaphone, hit it in it’s funny bone,
that’s where they expect it least”
And some new-mown chaperone was standin’ in the corner,
watching the young girls dance
And some fresh-sown moonstone was messin’ with his frozen zone, reminding him of romance
The calliope crashed to the ground
But she was...
Blinded by the light,
revved up like a deuce,
another runner in the night
Blinded by the light,
revved up like a deuce,
another runner in the night
Blinded by the light,
revved up like a deuce,
another runner in the night
Blinded by the light,
revved up like a deuce,
another runner in the night
Blinded by the light,
revved up like a deuce,
another runner in the night
Blinded by the light,
revved up like a deuce,
another runner in the night
Blinded by the light,
revved up like a deuce,
another runner in the night
Blinded by the light,
revved up like a deuce,
another runner in the night
Blinded by the light,
revved up like a deuce,
another runner in the night
Blinded by the light
Madman drummers bummers, Indians in the summer with a teenage diplomat
In the dumps with the mumps as the adolescent pumps his way into his hat
With a boulder on my shoulder, feelin’ kinda older,
I tripped the merry-go-round
With this very unpleasin’, sneezin’ and wheezin,
the calliope crashed to the ground
Now Scott with a slingshot finially found a tender spot and throws his lover in the sand
And some bloodshot forget-me-not said daddy’s within earshot save the buckshot, turn up the band
Some silicone sister with a manager mister told me I go what it takes
She said “I’ll turn you on sonny to something strong”
Easy out for pilot to blame something that can’t be proven. If he truly was blinded by the light the recordings should reflect some comment accordingly.
This reminds me of when police blamed bath salts for crime so they could increase penalty for use. Later proven bath salts had nothing to do with the particular crime.
Is the absence of the ‘papi lights’ unusual? Is that the kind of thing the tower should tell the pilot?
Maybe it was God telling him,
“welcome home son, I’ll be with you in a few minutes!”
During approach, the cockpit dashboard strobe indicators in modern aircraft produce blinding flashes to alert the pilot the strobes are functional. It's why they're developing passenger bungy cords, just in case those in the cockpit are blinded and have issues.
The PAPI was working. The Asiana pilots confirmed it in their NTSB interview.
Particularly when you think about the geometry involved. Laser beams travel in straight lines, so in order to blind someone the beam has to be perfectly aligned with the persons viewpoint. Given the orientation of an airplane on final that's pretty hard to do unless the laser is located on another plane, or on the airport itself, which strains credulity.
Maybe the pilot saw sun glinting off of a reflective surface, such as the bay.
Good to know. LOL
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