Posted on 07/07/2013 6:01:04 PM PDT by Oldeconomybuyer
The Asiana Airlines Boeing 777 that crashed at San Francisco's airport on Saturday was traveling "significantly below" its intended speed and its crew tried to abort the landing just seconds before it hit the seawall in front of the runway, the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board said on Sunday.
Information collected from the plane's cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder indicated that there were no signs of trouble until seven seconds before impact, when the crew tried to accelerate, NTSB Chairwoman Deborah Hersman said at a news conference at the airport.
A stall warning sounded four seconds before impact, and the crew tried to abort the landing and initiate what's known as a "go around" maneuver just 1.5 seconds before crashing, Hersman said.
"Air speed was significantly below the target airspeed," she said.
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
When I am on final approach just prior to landing (I’m a new pilot, about 100 hours) my eyes are scanning three things. Air speed, VASI or PAPI lights, and runway centering. When those are correct the landing goes well.
One thought. When doing a go around and applying full throttle with the full flaps extended, the nose will pitch up and require considerable forward force on the yoke to prevent a stall. Sounds like that is what happened, the nose pitched up and the tail hit the ground.
From what I’m reading - the sink rate was too fast plus they added power, pulled back and did a departure stall - same as that 757 out of Porto Rica years back ....
Except there was none reported or recorded.
Sleep flying?
It (777)is just too clean and those 90,000lb thrust engines are still producing some thrust in idle or residual thrust if they are reduced too late.
It could be that the crew thought that they were coupled to a glide path that was in fact out of service OR that they had not selected correctly on the auto throttle/auto land or that they were just really damn tired and unable to function. It is more than likely that they had been awake for possibly 24 straight hours when you count the time from when they left home/hotel until the time of the accident. They had flown all night, in the dark or twilight on the northern great circle and found themselves having to perform the most difficult part of their job just when their bodies were telling them it was bedtime back home. I have flown many a Red Eye and I guarantee you that you are not at your best after a 12 or 13 hour all niter. Think about that the next time you jump on that 14 hour non stop from LAX to Sidney or even worse the non-stop from Singapore to JFK.
Catch that, Nifster?
There may be a problem with the location of the air strip so close to the bay. Unpredictable wind direction and speeds presents a safety problem in the landings.
I was telling someone today that airlines in the US are very good about familiarizing pilots with new airports before letting them fly there alone or in command of a bigger aircraft.
From what I understand flying into San Francisco airport isnt exactly the easiest airport to fly into..you feel like your literally landing on water..you have to know what your doing..from the video of the crash it looks like the pilot for whatever reason believed the ground was lower than what it actually was thats why he tried to abort the landing 1.5 seconds before the crash, he realized he was too low
In a piston engine propeller airplane, full power is almost inmediate. In a turbine engine, especially a turbo jet, you need to allow for turbine spool up, which takes a precious few seconds. These guys applied full power less than two seconds before impact. Way too late. Again, IMHO.
Also, as far as visual cues, one more thing you need to do is to look at the far end of the runway to judge your sink rate.
Gimme a break...really?
Even a trainee on a 777 would have thousands of hours of flight time in a commercial jet airliner.
RNAV (GPS) with LPV or LNAV/VNAV minimums, and RNAV (RNP) are vertically guided approaches. They can have a Height above Threshold as low as 200 feet although 250 feet is more common.
Maintain Thy Airspeed, Lest The Ground Rise Up And Smite Thee.
Like my primary flight instructor always told me, “never fall in love with a landing”. Meaning sometimes you just have to abort and there is no saving the landing. Pride kills.
They managed to get the plane in a position of reverse command. The harder you pull back the faster it sinks.
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