A few more details have emerged and have been confirmed since Asiana Flight 214 crashed at San Francisco Airport.
The Boeing 777-200ER (registration HL7742) landed short of the runway, hitting the sea wall and ripped its tail off in the process, causing the plane to crash at the airport. The aircraft bounced twice, then spun around and departed from the left side of Runway 28. By the time the plane had come to rest, one of the engines has separated, as well as the tail of the plane.
The tailstrike was the cause of the fire on the plane, forcing a full emergency evacuation.
There were 291 passengers and 16 crew on board, with two fatalities and 49 serious injuries. Passengers evacuated the plane using the emergency slides. 181 people were taken to hospital, mostly with minor injuries.
The make-up of the passengers aboard were: 77 Koreans, 141 Chinese, 64 Americans, 3 Indians, 3 Canadians, 1 French, 1 Japanese and 1 Vietnamese.
Yoon Young-doo – CEO of Asiana Airlines notes there was no indication of a mechanical failure, no emergency alarm raised, with the crew requesting the standard landing procedure of securing their seatbelt for landing. The pilots were “veterans” with over 10,000 flying hours logged each, with the copilot logging 5,000 hours.
The US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) are in attendance at San Francisco International with a “Go-Team” at the site conducting investigations.
San Francisco Airport has partially reopened, with 2 runways available. As usual – check before you fly to see if your service has been rerouted or cancelled.
Asiana Airlines has set up two hotlines for Friends and families involved. In US 1 800 227 4262, In South Korea 080 669 8000
Saying “no mechanical failure” now and pretending that we actually know that for certain is bullshit. Announcing conclusions before the investigation is complete is not so useful. That’s on the CEO mostly, but also people reporting it as fact.