Posted on 07/06/2013 6:32:10 PM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach
Emergency crews surround an Asiana Airlines passenger jet after it crashed and burned at San Francisco International Airport, July 6, 2013, (CBS)
Emergency crews surround an Asiana Airlines passenger jet after it crashed and burned at San Francisco International Airport, July 6, 2013, (CBS)
SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS/KPIX 5) — An Asiana Airlines Boeing 777 crashed and burned upon arrival at San Francisco International Airport on Saturday, killing two people and hospitalizing 181 others.
The deadly crash happened around 11:30 a.m. Saturday on runway 28 behind Terminal 2 – the international terminal, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.
(Excerpt) Read more at sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com ...
There should be cameras at each end of every runway to record every takeoff and landing.
Hope not. A while ago, a buddy of mine that was there all afternoon on the ground told me it wasn't pleasant. Lots of personal effects strewn about. Said it sucked seeing the body of a woman. Also told me that he saw some body parts, if true it means critical injuries were not just burns. Sowed me pics he took, but none showing any graphic stuff. Horrible for the injured.
There are.
That’s terrible. I’m sorry your friend had to see all that.
It was perfect VFR conditions, it wouldn't matter if the altimeter read 3,000 feet, you don't land using the altimeter unless you are in IFR conditions, the GPS controlled glide slope indicators are your main focus.
It was either major pilot error (my guess) or some weird downdraft that affected the glide slope in a way that shouldn't for an aircraft this size.
The prior comments about the mechanics are correct. The pilot realized too late he was low, slammed on power and tried to nose up, but that moved the tail down just enough to impact the seawall. The tail and vertical stabilizer separated and he lost control. One poster on another thread said
"... The g forces in the rear seats must have been tremendous."
This indicates horrendous spinal column injuries in the rear cabin area. It also appears that the two fatalities were cabin crew in the rearmost seats, against the rear bulkhead.
My first thought...without knowing anything.... was pilot error. Windy conditions and cross-winds on landing in SAN FRAN. Wing dipped and touched tarmac.....sending plane in cart-wheel (based on initial reports)
Sounds like he came in too low and clipped tail.
Out of ignorance, I thought planes had altimeters and auto-landing computers. Are most touch-downs done manually by the pilot?
I think the pilots forgot to reset the computer to the new runway. Based on the tail debris field, it looks like they tried to correct to the new runway on visual approach. The tail debris starts on the right side of the left runway. Means they were landing in between the two runways. There was another plane waiting to take off on the right runway.
Not always true. Most aircraft still use the mechanical type altimeter that you have to set the elevation for each airport. If the pilot inserted the altimeter setting incorrectly, it could have caused him to be lower than he thought he was. That's still pilot error and, I agree, that pilot error was probably the cause of the accident.
The only exception to that would be if there were a malfunction of the altimeter that caused it to read incorrectly. It will be interesting to see what the CVR and FDR reveal when those are analyzed.
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