An Asiana Airlines pilot told investigators that he noticed Flight 214 was coming in too low to San Francisco International Airport on Saturday, and tried to correct the plane's landing path just before it crashed, officials said Tuesday.
When the plane was 500 feet above the runway, instructional pilot Lee Jung-min told pilot-in-training Lee Kang-kook to pull the plane up, National Transportation Safety Board Deborah A.P. Hersman said during a news conference.
"They were trying to correct at that point," said Hersman, citing completed interviews with three of the four pilots.
About 200 feet above the runway, Lee Jung-min said, he saw all four landing lights on the runway were red —a sign that the plane was coming in far too low. In the same moment, he said, he noticed that the auto-throttle was not properly regulating the plane's speed.
Officials said the Asiana jetliner had fallen more than 30 knots below its target landing speed of 137 knots in the seconds before it crashed, even as the crew desperately tried to apply more engine power. The pilots were given a warning about four seconds before the crash that the aircraft was approaching a stall. At the time of the crash, the engines were running about 50% and increasing in power.
Then the aircraft struck a sea wall at the end of runway 28L, began turning counterclockwise, then went into a full spin, Hersman said. Debris flew onto the runway and into the grass as the aircraft skidded. Two people died in the crash. Scores more were injured.
09/07/13 Los Angeles Times
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When the plane was 500 feet above the runway, instructional pilot Lee Jung-min told pilot-in-training Lee Kang-kook to pull the plane up, National Transportation Safety Board Deborah A.P. Hersman said during a news conference.
"They were trying to correct at that point," said Hersman, citing completed interviews with three of the four pilots.
About 200 feet above the runway, Lee Jung-min said, he saw all four landing lights on the runway were red —a sign that the plane was coming in far too low. In the same moment, he said, he noticed that the auto-throttle was not properly regulating the plane's speed.
Officials said the Asiana jetliner had fallen more than 30 knots below its target landing speed of 137 knots in the seconds before it crashed, even as the crew desperately tried to apply more engine power. The pilots were given a warning about four seconds before the crash that the aircraft was approaching a stall. At the time of the crash, the engines were running about 50% and increasing in power.
Then the aircraft struck a sea wall at the end of runway 28L, began turning counterclockwise, then went into a full spin, Hersman said. Debris flew onto the runway and into the grass as the aircraft skidded. Two people died in the crash. Scores more were injured.
09/07/13 Los Angeles Times
