Flight Safety Information July 8, 2013 - No. 138 In This Issue NTSB: Jet was traveling below target speed before crash Pilot in deadly plane crash had no experience landing 777 in San Francisco Coroner: Officials probing if rescuers ran over San Francisco plane crash victim Plane crash at Alaska airport leaves 10 dead Asiana Air Crash Adds Pressure on Korea Safety Regulations A look back at previous airport approach crashes U.S. airlines cancel more flights for Mexico volcano 2013 Aviation Human Factors and SMS Seminar - Dallas, July 23-24, 2013 Think ARGUS PROS NTSB: Jet was traveling below target speed before crash The pilot tried to abort the landing and come around for another try 1.5 seconds before crash. Asia Airlines San Francisco crash Story Highlights Flight 214 was flying too slow, below target landing speed, NTSB says Report: Pilot was making first trip to San Francisco at controls of 777 Coroner says one victim may have been struck by rescue vehicle SAN FRANCISCO - Asiana Airlines Flight 214 was traveling well below its target speed for landing when it crashed short of the runway Saturday, National Transportation Safety Board Chairman Deborah Hersman said at a briefing Sunday. "The speed was significantly below 137 knots, and we're not talking a few knots," she said. Asiana Airlines said the pilot in charge of landing the Boeing 777 was in training for flying that model of jet, and that this was his first flight into San Francisco at the controls of a 777, the Associated Press reported. "It was Lee Kang-kook's maiden flight to the airport with the jet." a spokeswoman for Asiana Airlines who was not identified by name said, the news agency reported. It reported that he had flown Boeing 747 jets into San Francisco's airport previously, and was assisted on this flight by another pilot with more experience flying the 777. The plane was travelling "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. "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. San Mateo County Coroner Robert Foucrault said Sunday that his office was investigating whether one of the two Chinese girls killed in the crash had been run over by a rescue vehicle. He said San Francisco Fire Department officials notified him at the site Saturday that one of the 16-year-olds may have been struck on the runway. An autopsy was to be completed Monday. Federal officials say the plane that crashed in San Francisco Saturday was cleared for a visual approach. This means that it was cleared to approach the runway based on the pilot's view, without using instruments. Two people died in the crash. Hersman provided details of what investigators found in their initial review of the plane's flight data and cockpit voice recorders: "The approach proceeds normally as they descend. There is no discussion of any aircraft anomalies or concerns with the approach. A call from one of the crewmembers to increase speed was made approximately seven seconds prior to impact." The "stick shaker," which gives an audible and motion signal warning that the plane is flying too slowly and is about to stall, sounds "approximately four seconds prior to impact." The pilot requested a "go-around" - to abort the landing, fly around the airport and try again, Hersman said. "A call to initiate a go-around occurred 1.5 seconds before impact," she said. Hersman said investigators will look at all possibilities for the cause of the crash, including pilot error. "Everything is on the table," she said. The flight crew had not been interviewed, a process that may take a few more days, she said. The engines will be dismantled to look for further clues. "What we need to do is corroborate the information we have on both the flight data recorder and the cockpit voice recorder" for a complete picture of what happened, she said, but the two devices appeared to "mirror" each other - that anomalies in the data appear to correspond to the pilots' actions. The CEO of Asiana Airlines said Sunday he had ruled out engine or mechanical problems in the crash. Yoon Young Doo, the president and chief executive of the airline, said at company headquarters Sunday, "I bow my head and sincerely apologize for causing concern to the passengers, families and our people. "For now, we acknowledge that there were no problems caused by the 777-200 plane or engines," Yoon said. He declined to comment directly on whether the crash was due to pilot error or air-traffic controllers but said the three captains on board had more than 10,000 flying hours of experience between them. The two teenage girls who died were identified Sunday as Ye Mengyuan and Wang Linjia from China's eastern Zhejiang province, according to China Central TV. They were among a group of 29 middle-school students and five teachers heading for a summer camp in the USA. Their bodies were found outside the plane, which had come to rest between runways. They were headed to a three-week stay in Los Angeles at a church school in the San Fernando Valley, West Valley Christian School administrator Derek Swales said. At least 168 people were treated for injuries. Eight were still in critical condition. After the crash, smoke billowed from the jet, and frightened passengers scampered to safety from emergency exits on the plane's fuselage. A massive, gaping hole blackened by fire stretched along much of the plane's top. It was the first fatal crash of a commercial airline in the USA since February 2009. The flight, which originated in Shanghai before stopping in Seoul en route to San Francisco, carried 61 U.S. citizens, 77 South Koreans and 141 Chinese. Early Sunday, South Korea's Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport identified the two pilots flying the jetliner at the time of the crash as Lee Jeong Min and Lee Gang Guk. The ministry said four pilots were on board and rotated in two-person shifts during the 10-hour flight from Seoul. Black Box These black boxes recovered after the crash of Asiana Airline Flight 214 in San Francisco were transported to Washington Sunday for analysis. Hersman said a component of the airport's instrument landing system that tracks the glide path of incoming airplanes was not working at the time of the crash, but other technology aids were available to the pilots on the final approach. The computerized system calculates a plane's path of descent and sends the information to pilots in real time. Vedpal Singh, who was sitting in the middle of the aircraft and survived the crash with his family, said there was no warning from the pilot or any crewmembers before the plane touched down hard and he heard a loud sound. "We knew something was horrible wrong," said Singh, who suffered a fractured collarbone and had his arm in a sling. "It's miraculous we survived." Passenger Benjamin Levy, 39, said it looked to him as though the plane was flying too low and too close to the bay as it approached the runway. Levy, who was sitting in an emergency exit row, said he felt the pilot try to lift the jet up before it crashed and thinks the maneuver might have saved some lives. "Everybody was screaming. I was trying to usher them out," he recalled of the first seconds after the landing. "I said, 'Stay calm, stop screaming, help each other out, don't push.' " After the initial impact, the plane's tail section was ripped off, coming to rest hundreds of feet from the main body of the aircraft, which burst into flames. Samsung executive David Eun, who was aboard the aircraft, was among the first to tweet photos and word of passengers. "Fire and rescue people all over the place. They're evacuating the injured. Haven't felt this way since 9/11.'' http://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/news/2013/07/07/asian-airlines-crash-san- francisco-airport-boeing-777/2496275/ Back to Top Pilot in deadly plane crash had no experience landing 777 in San Francisco STORY HIGHLIGHTS NEW: This was the pilot's first time landing a Boeing 777 at the San Francisco airport The pilot had 43 hours of experience of flying the 777, South Korea says (CNN) -- The pilot of the Asiana Airlines plane that crashed in San Francisco on Saturday was making his first landing with a Boeing 777 at San Francisco International Airport, the airline said. But it wasn't his first time flying to San Francisco. The pilot, Lee Kang-gook, had flown from Seoul to the city several times between 1999 and 2004, the airline said. He has also clocked 43 hours flying a Boeing 777. http://www.cnn.com/2013/07/07/us/plane-crash-main/ ************ Asiana Airlines: Pilot was getting on-the-job training SAN FRANCISCO The pilot at the controls of an Asiana plane that crashed was getting on-the-job training, the carrier's CEO revealed Monday. Yoon Young-Doo told reporters Lee Gang-guk "was undergoing an OJT (on-the-job training) flight in order to gain experience in order to fly a new type of airplane. For this OJT flight, an experienced pilot with more than 10,000 hours of flight experience, was onboard as an instructing pilot, and took all responsibility regarding flight." Yoon denied that the airline is placing more weight on Lee's inexperience as it investigates, saying, "We're currently awaiting results from America's NTSB (National Transportation Safety Board)." "OJT flights are a widely accepted training practice in the international aviation industry," Yoon continued. " ... The speculation (that Lee's inexperience was a factor) is something that cannot be permitted and is different from fact." Aviation and airline officials said Sunday that Lee was guiding a Boeing 777 into the San Francisco airport for the first time, and tried but failed to abort the landing after coming in too slowly to set down safely. It remained unclear whether the pilot's inexperience with the aircraft and airport played a role in Saturday's crash. Officials were investigating whether the airport or plane's equipment could have also malfunctioned. South Korea's government announced Monday that officials will inspect engines and landing equipment on all Boeing 777 planes owned by Asiana and Korean Air, the national carrier. http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-201_162-57592595/asiana-airlines-pilot-was-getting- on-the-job-training/ Back to Top Coroner: Officials probing if rescuers ran over San Francisco plane crash victim Ye Mengyuan, left, and Wang Linjia were killed in crash of Asiana Airlines Flight 214 on July 6, 2013 at San Francisco airport SAN FRANCISCO A San Francisco-area coroner whose office received the bodies of two teenage victims of the Asiana plane crash says officials are conducting an autopsy to determine if one of the girls was run over and killed by a rescue vehicle. San Mateo County Coroner Robert Foucrault says Sunday that senior San Francisco Fire Department officials notified him and his staff at the crash site on Saturday that one of the 16-year-olds may have been struck on the runaway. Foucrault says an autopsy he expects to be completed by Monday will involve determining whether the girl's death was caused by injuries suffered in the crash or "a secondary incident." He says he did not get a close enough look at the victims on Saturday to know whether they had external injuries. Chinese state media reported Sunday that the two fatalities in Saturday afternoon's plane crash at the San Francisco International Airport were 16-year-old Chinese schoolgirls named Ye Mengyuan and Wang Linjia. The two girls came with a group of 29 students and five teachers from a highly competitive school in Zhejiang, an affluent coastal province. While declining to identify the victims, earlier a San Francisco fire official said both victims had been found on the "exterior" of the plane. A spokesman for Asiana Airlines said the two killed Chinese teenagers were seated at the back of the plane, according to the state-run Xinhua news agency. Xinhua also reports that Chinese President Xi Jinping "expressed great concern over the accident and sent condolences to the Chinese victims and their families." http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-201_162-57592581/coroner-officials-probing-if- rescuers-ran-over-san-francisco-plane-crash-victim/ Back to Top Plane crash at Alaska airport leaves 10 dead Police and emergency personnel stand near the remains of a fixed-wing aircraft that was engulfed in flames Sunday July 7, 2013, at the Soldotna Airport in Soldotna, Alaska. There were no survivors. 10 Killed in Alaska Plane Crash Ten were killed in a fiery plane crash at a municipal airport in Alaska's Kenai Peninsula on Sunday, just 25 hours after the fatal airplane landing at San Francisco's port. Investigators are still trying to piece together the events and discern whether the single- engine de Havilland DHC-3 Otter air taxi was taking off or landing, when it crashed and ignited into flames, The Associated Press reported. Emergency responders from Soldotna were called to put out the fire, the Telegraph reported. All nine passengers and the pilot were killed. National Transportation Safety Board officials said it went down about 11:20 a.m. on Sunday at Soldotna Municipal Airport, the Telegraph reported. This is the second fatal airplane crash in two days. Just 25 hours earlier, an Asiana Airlines Boeing 777 carrying 291 crashed at San Francisco International Airport, killing two 16-year-old Chinese students and injuring more than 180. http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/jul/8/plane-crash-alaska-airport-leaves- 10-dead/#ixzz2YS5jRmQr ************ Status: Preliminary Date: 07 JUL 2013 Time: 11:20 Type: de Havilland Canada DHC-3 Otter Operator: Rediske Air Registration: N93PC ? C/n / msn: First flight: Crew: Fatalities: / Occupants: Passengers: Fatalities: / Occupants: Total: Fatalities: 10 / Occupants: 10 Airplane damage: Written off Airplane fate: Written off (damaged beyond repair) Location: Soldotna Airport, AK (SXQ) (United States of America) Phase: () Nature: Departure airport: ? Destination airport: ? Narrative: A de Havilland Canada DHC-3 Otter crashed at Soldotna Airport, AK (SXQ), killing all ten on board. www.aviation-safety.net Back to Top Asiana Air Crash Adds Pressure on Korea Safety Regulations Korean Air Lines Co. (003490)'s crash history in the 1990s prompted the government to order its carriers to get new planes and pilots more training. Asiana Airlines Inc (020560).'s accident last week may prompt a new round of similar measures. Two people died and more than 300 escaped, some sliding down emergency exits, before a fire swept through Asiana's Boeing Co. 777 plane while landing in San Francisco July 6. It was South Korea's first fatal passenger jet crash since 1997. Korean Air, the country's biggest carrier, in 2000 hired two executives who worked with U.S. airlines to help improve its safety standards after a slew of accidents, including a 1997 crash in Guam that killed 228 people. Delta Air Lines Inc. (DAL) temporarily suspended its code-sharing agreement with Korean Air in 1999 after safety records came under scrutiny. The country responded, and Asiana was ranked among the top five global airlines by Skytrax in each of the past five years. The 777's pilots tried to abort a landing 1 1/2 seconds before it slammed into a rock berm short of the runway at San Francisco International Airport, an accident investigator said. Shares Plunge The aircraft slowed so much on approach that a cockpit warning of an impending aerodynamic stall sounded 4 seconds before it crash-landed, U.S. Transportation Safety Board Chairman Deborah Hersman said yesterday, describing data from flight recorders in her first briefing since the accident. Shares of Asiana, South Korea's second-largest airline, fell 5.8 percent to close at 4,825 won in Seoul, after slumping to the lowest level in more than three years today. Chief Executive Officer Yoon Young Doo apologized yesterday. "We will do our best to help with the investigation," Yoon said in Seoul. "We will try to take steps to ensure the safety of our flights." South Korea's transport ministry sent eight investigators to San Francisco yesterday to work together with the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board on the crash. Out of Control The plane's tail hit the ground and broke off, sending the 777 spinning out of control, witnesses have said. The South Korean government said the aircraft carried 307 people from Seoul and the San Francisco Fire Department said 181 were taken to hospitals. The 291 passengers on flight 214 included 77 Koreans, 141 Chinese and 61 from the U.S., the transport ministry said. There were 16 crew members. The two Chinese passengers who died in the crash, sat at the back of the aircraft, Asiana said. The crash is the most serious aviation accident on U.S. soil since 50 people were killed in 2009 near Buffalo, New York, when a turboprop plane flown by Pinnacle Airlines Corp.'s former Colgan unit plunged to the ground. All South Korean airlines, including budget carriers, were ordered to ensure safety, the transport ministry said in an e-mailed statement yesterday. The country had no fatal air crashes between December 1999 and July 2011, when an Asiana freighter crashed, the ministry said. Similar Incident "To prevent a second similar incident from happening, the country's eight carriers are being ordered to ensure safety of their flights," the ministry said. "We will do our utmost to find the cause of the accident and take additional steps to ensure flight safety." The ministry today ordered Korean Air and Asiana to check engines and landing equipment on all forty-eight 777s they operate. The government will carry out special inspections on the nation's eight carriers for 50 days until Aug. 25. A Korean Air 747-200 cargo plane crashed in December 1999 shortly after taking off from London's Stansted Airport, killing three of its four crew members on board. That was eight months after the airline's MD-11 freighter crashed in Shanghai in April and killed eight people, including those on the ground. The accidents prompted the government to tighten safety standards at Korean airlines, as well as foreign ones flying into the country. It also strengthened regulations on pilot and maintenance licenses. Pilots were required to be trained and evaluated at an international center, and airlines were required to fly more hours on domestic routes before obtaining a license to fly overseas. The government also strengthened safety regulations at domestic airports. Pilot Training The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration downgraded South Korea to Category 2 safety rating in August 2001 following the accidents. The rating was restored to Category 1, which allowed Korean carriers to open new routes in the U.S. and resume marketing alliances with American carriers, in December that year. The two pilots on Flight 214 were Lee Jung Min, 49, a graduate of the Korea Aerospace University who joined Asiana in 1996, and Lee Kang Kuk, 46, who started his career at the airline in 1994 and got his pilot's license in 2001, South Korea's Transport Ministry said in an e-mailed statement. Lee Jung Min has flown a total of 12,387 hours, 3,220 on a 777, while Lee Kang Kuk has flown a total of 9,793 hours, 43 of which were on a 777, according to the statement. Co-pilot Lee Kang Kuk was in the process of transitioning from flying Boeing 737 model to the 777, South Korean Transport Ministry Official Choi Jung Ho told reporters in Seoul today. The government is still investigating who had control of the plane during landing, he said. Scheduled Maintenance Asiana is South Korea's second-largest carrier, after Korean Air. The 777-200ER destroyed in the accident was among 12 of that model in Asiana's 78-plane fleet, according to its website. The plane was added to the fleet in March 2006 and had flown from Seoul to Osaka and back before its flight to San Francisco. It received scheduled maintenance six months ago, Asiana said in an e-mailed statement. The San Francisco accident was Asiana's worst involving a passenger plane since 1993, when a Boeing 737 crashed in Mokpo, south of Seoul, killing 66 people, according to the National Archives of Korea. Asiana's previous disaster was the crash of its cargo freighter in the sea south of Jeju island in July 2011. It caused 200.4 billion won ($175 million) of damage, the airline said then. The Boeing 747-400 aircraft was carrying two crew members and 58 tons of cargo to Shanghai from Incheon International Airport. "The accident will have a negative impact on sentiment in the short term," said Jay Ryu, an analyst at Daewoo Securities Co. in Seoul. "We will have to see the outcome of the investigation before we can be certain what the long term impact will be and what measures need to be taken." http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-07-07/asiana-air-crash-may-bring-new-safety- regulations-in-south-korea.html Back to Top A look back at previous airport approach crashes (AP) A number of major commercial airliners have crashed while landing or on approach at airports around the globe. Below is a list of some of the most notable crashes in recent years: Nov. 1, 2011 Chopin Airport, Warsaw, Poland A Boeing 767 with 231 people on board lands on its belly after the landing gear failed. Lot Airlines Flight 16 left Newark International Airport but hit the runway in Poland, with sparks flying as its belly scraped the pavement. The pilot was later hailed as a Polish national hero after there appeared to be no serious injuries. ___ Jan. 10, 2010 Newark International Airport, Newark, N.J. An Airbus A319 flying from Chicago to Newark was descending on its runway approach when it landed with a belly flop after the landing gear malfunctioned. United Airlines Flight 634 landed without any injuries to the 48 passengers and five crew members on board. ___ May 22, 2010 Mangalore Airport, Mangalore, India A Boeing 737-800 overshot a hilltop runway, crashed and plunged over a cliff killing 158 people in one of India's deadliest air accidents. Only eight people survived the crash of Air India Flight 812 from Dubai. It was later discovered one of the pilots had been asleep, was disoriented when he awoke and made critical human errors. ___ Feb. 12, 2009 Five miles northeast of Buffalo Niagara International Airport, Clarence, N.Y. Continental Connection Flight 3407 bound for Buffalo from Newark, N.J. crashed into a home on its descent, killing all 49 passengers on board and one person on the ground. The NTSB has said the pilots' improper response to a low-speed warning led the Bombardier Dash 8-Q400 to stall. Among contributing factors were the crew's inattention to airspeeds and violation of regulations prohibiting unnecessary conversation during takeoffs and landings. ___ Jan. 17, 2008 Heathrow International Airport, London A Boeing 777 flying from Beijing made a forceful, crunching touchdown short of the runway at Heathrow. The impact ripped the British Airways Flight 038's landing gear and severely damaged the two engines and wings. There were 19 injuries reported among the 152 people aboard. ___ Dec. 8, 2005 Midway International Airport, Chicago A Boeing 737 from Baltimore crashed after landing amid a snowstorm at Chicago's Midway International Airport. Southwest Airlines Flight 1248 hit the snowy runway and crashed through fences before hitting a car in the street outside of the airport, killing a 6-year-old boy inside. ___ Aug. 2, 2005 Pearson International Airport, Toronto An Airbus A340 from Paris thudded onto the runway, then skidded off the pavement moments later, bursting into flames while landing amid stormy weather. All 309 passengers and crew aboard Air France Flight 358 survived the crash. ___ June 1, 1999 Little Rock National Airport, Little Rock, Ark. A McDonnell Douglas MD-82 jet out of Dallas crashed while landing during a thunderstorm at Little Rock National Airport, skidding off the end of a runway and slamming into a light structure attached to a catwalk more than 400 feet beyond the north end of the runway. Eleven people aboard American Airlines Flight 1420 were killed and 89 injured. Back to Top U.S. airlines cancel more flights for Mexico volcano MEXICO CITY (AP) - U.S. airlines canceled more flights in and out of Mexico City's airport on Friday as a precautionary measure as the nearby Popocatepetl volcano continued to emit vapor and ash. Alaska Airlines, United, Delta and AirTran canceled about a dozen flights, fewer than the number on Thursday, said Jorge Gomez, spokesman for Mexico City International Airport. He noted that the airlines made the decision, and said normal operations continued at the airport without restrictions. No ash has fallen at the airport, Gomez said, though dust particles have been detected from the volcano that is about 40 miles (65 kilometers) away. At least six U.S. airlines canceled more than 40 flights on Thursday as the volcano spewed a mile-high (1.5 kilometer-high) plume of ash that drifted over large parts of Mexico City. The volcano also spewed a hot shower of glowing rock around its crater. Mexico's National Center for Disaster Prevention reported that there had been 99 tremors and exhalations of medium and high frequency from the volcano on Friday afternoon. Activity has increased this week from the volcano that towers more than 15,000 feet (5,450 meters) high in central Mexico where the states of Mexico, Puebla and Morelos meet. Ash has fallen on towns at the volcano's base and as far away as some neighborhoods in Mexico City. The Environment Ministry called on residents to take preventive measures Friday against the falling ash, including wearing dust masks, covering water supplies and staying indoors as needed. Back to Top 2013 Aviation Human Factors and SMS Seminar - Dallas, July 23-24, 2013 Just under a month until the 2013 Aviation Human Factors and SMS Seminar in Dallas, July 23-24 at the Frontiers of Flight Museum, from 8-5 each day. The seminar fee is $100. Please RSVP if you plan to attend. We have a great speaker lineup, entertaining venue and a chance to share best practices with your fellow professionals. FMI: http://www.signalcharlie.net/Seminar+2013 Registration: http://www.signalcharlie.net/Seminar+Registration+2013 Kent B. Lewis (850) 449-4841 www.signalcharlie.net Curt Lewis