Asiana says pilot of crashed plane was in training

Reuters ^ | July 7, 2013 | by Hyunjoo Jin

[Oldeconomybuyer]

Asiana Airlines Inc said the pilot in charge of landing the Boeing 777 that crash-landed at San Francisco's airport on Saturday was training for the long-range plane and that it was his first flight to the airport with the jet.

"It was Lee Kang-kook's maiden flight to the airport with the jet... He was in training. Even a veteran gets training (for a new jet)," a spokeswoman for Asiana Airlines said on Monday.

"He has a lot of experience and previously flown to San Francisco on different planes including the B747... and he was assisted by another pilot who has more experience with the 777," the spokeswoman said.

Lee, who started his career at Asiana as an intern in 1994, has 9,793 hours of flying experience, but only 43 hours with the Boeing 777 jet.

Co-pilot Lee Jeong-min, who has 3,220 hours of flying experience with the Boeing 777 and a total of 12,387 hours of flying experience, was helping Lee Kang-kook in the landing, the spokeswoman said.

[Gay State Conservative]

Asiana Airlines Inc said the pilot in charge of landing the Boeing 777 that crash-landed at San Francisco's airport on Saturday was training for the long-range plane and that it was his first flight to the airport with the jet.

Yikes!

[moviefan8]

Well, hopefully he doesn’t return to the cockpit. He failed.

[bunkerhill7]

Passengers should be notified before they board

that they will be passengers in a Driver`s Ed class.

[TADSLOS]

Who was the Pilot in Command?

[NautiNurse]

Costly lesson.

[Sarah Barracuda]

I understand that pilots need experience that is how they learn how to be pilots, but the co-pilot, he supposedly knew what he was doing..what the hell was he doing the entire time, just sitting there like a bump on a log

[max americana]

I don’t think he’ll even qualify to be a taxi driver after this..

[2111USMC]

Well I suppose he’s going to lose points for that landing.

[Paladin2]

Ruh-Roh.

[Strategerist]

So are you willing to spend a $100-$200 more per ticket to allow airlines to fly around empty airplanes to all the airports they fly to so that pilots can build up what you consider sufficient hours in a given aircraft landing at given airports?

[tpmintx]

Consider: The co-pilot, with significantly more B777 experience, did not challenge the captain’s throttle settings, airspeed or anything. The captain was allowed to save face, all the way to impact.

[Secret Agent Man]

that would be the senior pilot. not the guy who made the worm-burner.

[TADSLOS]

If so, he assumes primary responsibility for the mishap. Comes with the designation.

[moviefan8]

Both should be fired and sent to jail.

[xjcsa]

Consider: The co-pilot, with significantly more B777 experience, did not challenge the captain’s throttle settings, airspeed or anything. The captain was allowed to save face, all the way to impact.

And the "co-pilot" would certainly have been a more senior captain who outranked the pilot in the captain's seat, which makes it even stranger.

[BluH2o]

Similar scenario in the cockpit of the Air France flight that went down over the South Atlantic several years ago. In this instance it wasn't an approach landing but at 30, 000 ft. plus when the aircraft went thru a thunderstorm. Captain was taking a short rest break and inexperienced pilot lost control.

[NonValueAdded]

CRM failure then? The co-pilot / trainer deferring to the pilot, not wanting to correct his superior?

[jiggyboy]

That’s what it looks like. Don’t embarrass your superior on his first trip in the big-boy seat. If they were conversing in Korean, we’ll never know what cultural codewords and timidly understated observations and face-saving euphemisms were going back and forth in that cockpit.

[GSP.FAN]

Jeez!Admitting guilt unheard of.
Well their goes another airline.