Asiana 214 Crash at KSFO

[The Troll]

  Too low, too slow and too slow to fire wall the throttles will get you every time.   

[Locutus]

. . .The pilot sitting in the captain's seat of Asiana Airlines Flight 214 was identified as Lee Kang-gook, Choi Jeong-ho, the head of the South Korea's Aviation Policy Bureau, said Sunday. Lee had 43 hours of experience flying the B777-200, he said.
--South Korean and U.S. investigators will jointly question Lee Kang-gook, who was sitting in the captain's seat of Asiana Flight 214 on Monday, Choi Jeong-ho, the head of South Korean's Aviation Policy Bureau, said Sunday. They will also question Lee Jeong-min, who was sitting in the co-pilot's seat, he said.. . .

Choi Jeong-ho also identified Sum Dum Fuk and Long Duk Dong as driving the responding firetrucks.   

But seriously, only 43 hours?? 

[Locutus]

  Too low, too slow and too slow to fire wall the throttles will get you every time.   

Absolutely.

I made a comment earlier that if you stall a triple 7 at that low of an altitude, there isn't much you can do about it, and that's true.  What I failed to mention is that you can stall a light twin engine Piper Seminole at that same low altitude and there isn't much you can do there either. 

You stall any aircraft too low and you might as well be sitting on top of a rock, because you're going to hit the ground.

[Locutus]

. . .The pilot sitting in the captain's seat of Asiana Airlines Flight 214 was identified as Lee Kang-gook, Choi Jeong-ho, the head of the South Korea's Aviation Policy Bureau, said Sunday. Lee had 43 hours of experience flying the B777-200, he said.
--South Korean and U.S. investigators will jointly question Lee Kang-gook, who was sitting in the captain's seat of Asiana Flight 214 on Monday, Choi Jeong-ho, the head of South Korean's Aviation Policy Bureau, said Sunday. They will also question Lee Jeong-min, who was sitting in the co-pilot's seat, he said.. . .

Also from that same article:

"According to the recorders, the flight's approach appeared normal as the 777 descended, and "there is no discussion of aircraft approach" among the crew.

The target air speed for the approach of the flight was 137 knots, and the crew can be heard on the cockpit voice recorder acknowledging the speed, Hersman said.

But the speed was significantly below 137 knots, and "we are not talking about a few knots," she said.

At about four seconds before the plane crash landed, the pilots received an "aural and physical" warning inside the cockpit that the plane was on the verge of an aerodynamic stall, meaning it was about to lose its ability to stay in the air.

The warning -- known as a "stick shaker" -- included a verbal warning the plane that was flying too low and a physical warning when the throttle shook."

[Palehorse]

How does one come to pilot a triple seven with only 43 hours of training? Moreover, how does the entire crew of this same triple seven NOT recognize that the aircraft is approaching or is dangerously near stall speeds, much less below them?

This on a trans-ocean flight with passengers aboard. 

Was the entire crew new to the aircraft, and if so why?

One certainly has to question the operational practices of this south Korean airline Asiana. 

Mistakes happen, especially when human beings are involved; however, one of the basic premises of having a fully staffed crew aboard such an aircraft is to ensure safe practices and operational initiatives are under way at all times. It is the very same theory utilized with redundancy in the construction of the aircraft and its systems!

[Locutus]

Yeah, it was a pretty serious fuck up on the part of multiple people.  If you're a training officer sitting in the right seat training another pilot, you have to be damn sure you're watching him, and watching critical things on the aircraft like airspeed. 

[Palehorse]

Yeah, it was a pretty serious fuck up on the part of multiple people.  If you're a training officer sitting in the right seat training another pilot, you have to be damn sure you're watching him, and watching critical things on the aircraft like airspeed.

Unbelievable to say the least. . .

[The Troll]

  I can remember when I was taking pilot training.  I was coming in for a landing and my instructor said, "you're to high", again,  "you're to high" and again, "you're to high and he hit the wheel and I was looking straight down at the numbers on the run way.  It sure woke me up.   

  The co-pilot sure should have hit the throttles and stopped the low speed.   

[Locutus]

Federal crash investigators revealed Wednesday that the pilot flying Asiana Airlines flight 214 told them that he was temporarily blinded by a bright light when 500 feet above the ground.


^^

Not sure I'm buying that.  That sounds like a CYA lie. 

[Locutus]

. . .The pilot sitting in the captain's seat of Asiana Airlines Flight 214 was identified as Lee Kang-gook, Choi Jeong-ho, the head of the South Korea's Aviation Policy Bureau, said Sunday. Lee had 43 hours of experience flying the B777-200, he said.
--South Korean and U.S. investigators will jointly question Lee Kang-gook, who was sitting in the captain's seat of Asiana Flight 214 on Monday, Choi Jeong-ho, the head of South Korean's Aviation Policy Bureau, said Sunday. They will also question Lee Jeong-min, who was sitting in the co-pilot's seat, he said.. . .

Not according to this TV station.   

http://www.youtube.com/v/k-GEhArUuZ8

[Henry Hawk]

[Locutus]

The stupidity goes even further.  An intern at the NTSB confirmed those names to the television station before they aired them.   

[Anne]

Someone is in deep dodo over that I bet. I can't believe the newscaster didn't see it.

[Locutus]

Yeah, I would like to think that I would have caught it if I had been the anchor, but they're trained to read and present.  I guess she didn't have time to engage the brain while the words were coming out of her mouth. 

[Henry Hawk]

It makes me think of ........" I'm Ron Burgundy?"