July 11, 2013: NTSB Chairman Hersman's final media briefing on Asiana flight 214 crash
According to NTSB Final Media Briefing was given by National Transportation Safety Board Chairman Deborah A. P. Hersman on July 11, 2013 at 2:00 p.m. (PDT) on Asiana Airlines Flight 214 Investigation at Holiday Inn, (Peninsula room), 275 South Airport Blvd, South San Francisco, CA 94080. While the on scene investigative work continues, this will be the last media briefing. Further investigative updates will be provided from NTSB headquarters in Washington D.C.
Here is NTSB Chairman Hersman's final media briefing on Asiana flight 214 crash July 11, 2013 via Youtube:
Asiana Airlines Flight 214 was a scheduled transpacific passenger flight from Incheon International Airport, South Korea, that crashed during an attempted landing at its destination, San Francisco International Airport, United States, on July 6, 2013. Of the 307 people (291 passengers and 16 crew) aboard the Asiana Airlines Boeing 777-200ER, two passengers died on impact or on the ground, and a third died of injuries in hospital on July 12. 181 were injured. Asiana Airlines Flight 214 was registered with HL7742 whichi is 777-200 ER and Flight origin was from Incheon International Airport, South Korea to San Francisco International Airport, United States for destination.
It was the second crash and the first fatal one of a Boeing 777 since it began operating commercially since 1995.
141 passengers on board from China, South Korea 77 and United States Passengers were 61. There were from other countries, from Canada, France, India, Japan, Thailand, and from Vietnam.
Asiana Airlines Inc. is one of South Korea's two major airlines, along with Korean Air. Asiana has its headquarters in Asiana Town in Osoe-dong, Gangseo-gu, Seoul. The airline has its domestic hub at Gimpo International Airport and its international hub at Incheon International Airport (70 kilometres (43 mi) from central Seoul).
As a member of Star Alliance, it operates 14 domestic and 90 international passenger routes, and 27 cargo routes throughout Asia, Europe, North America, and Oceania.
As of December 2012, the company employs 9,595 people. The majority of Asiana's pilots, ground staff, and flight attendants are based in Seoul. Asiana Airlines is the largest shareholder in Air Busan, a low-cost regional carrier joint venture with Busan Metropolitan City. Asiana is also currently an official sponsor of the South Korea national football team.
The 777-200ER ("ER" for Extended Range), the B-market version of the −200, was originally known as the 777-200IGW for its increased gross weight. The −200ER features additional fuel capacity and an increased maximum takeoff weight (MTOW) over the −200.
Aimed at international airlines operating transatlantic routes, the −200ER's maximum range is 7,700 nautical miles (14,300 km).
In addition to breaking the eastbound great circle "distance without landing" record, the −200ER also holds the record for the longest ETOPS-related emergency flight diversion (177 minutes under one engine), on a United Airlines flight carrying 255 passengers on March 17, 2003, over the Pacific Ocean.
The first −200ER was delivered to British Airways on February 6, 1997. Singapore Airlines, one of the type's largest customers
Singapore Airlines, one of the type's largest customers, ordered over half of its −200ERs with reduced engine thrust specifications (de-rated) for use on medium-length routes. The de-rated engines lower MTOW, which reduces the aircraft's purchase price and landing fees, and can be re-rated to full −200ER standard for long-haul operations.
As of February 2013, −200ER deliveries to 33 different customers totaled 418, ranking the −200ER as the most widely produced variant of the twinjet to date. The newer −300ER variant, however, has accumulated an even larger number of orders.
As of July 2013 for Boeing 777-200ER, 418 examples of the −200ER were in airline service.
Sources:NTSB wikipedia, and youtube. catch4all.com,
Sandra Englund July 13, 2013.
Boeing Statement on Asiana Airlines Flight 214
SEATTLE, July 7, 2013 -- Boeing extends its deepest condolences to the families of those who perished in the Asiana Airlines Flight 214 accident in San Francisco, as well as its wishes for the recovery of those injured.
A Boeing technical team is onsite to provide assistance at the request and under the direction of the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) as the agency conducts its investigation.
In accordance with the international protocol governing aviation accident investigations, all inquiries about the investigation must be directed to the NTSB.
SEATTLE, July 6, 2013 – Boeing extends its deepest condolences to the families and friends of those who perished in the Asiana Airlines Flight 214 accident in San Francisco, as well as its wishes for the recovery of those injured.
Boeing will join the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board at their request to provide technical assistance to their investigation.
In accordance with the international protocol governing aviation accident investigations, all inquiries about the investigation must be directed to the NTSB.
NTSB Press Release
National Transportation Safety Board Office of Public Affairs
NTSB launching
team to investigate Boeing 777 crash in San Francisco
July
6
The National Transportation Safety Board is launching a full go-team to San
Francisco, Calif., to investigate today's crash involving Asiana Airlines Flight
214, a Boeing 777. The crash occurred while the aircraft was landing at San
Francisco International Airport.
NTSB Senior Aviation Accident Investigator Bill English will serve as
investigator-in-charge. NTSB Chairman Deborah A.P. Hersman is accompanying the
team and will serve as the principal spokesman.
Public Affairs Specialists Kelly Nantel and Keith Holloway will also be
on-scene in San Francisco to coordinate media related activities. They can be
reached by mobile phone at 202-557-1350.
For the latest information related to the investigation and any press
briefings, follow us on twitter @NTSB or at ntsb.gov
Office of Public Affairs 490 L'Enfant Plaza, SW Washington, DC
20594 (202) 314-6100 Keith Holloway keith.holloway@ntsb.gov
------------------------------- According to U.S. New York Times, dated July 7th, 2013, Terror on Jet: Seeing Water, Not Runway More detail shows reported by Norimitsu Onishi reported from San Francisco, Christopher Drew and Sarah
Maslin Nir from New York, and Matthew L. Wald from Washington. Reporting was
contributed by Somini Sengupta from San Francisco; Michael Schwirtz, Ravi
Somaiya, Jad Mouawad and Mei-Yu Liu from New York; David Barboza from Shanghai;
and Choe Sang-hun from Seoul, South Korea. Jack Begg contributed
research.
SAN FRANCISCO — The nearly 11-hour trip across the Pacific had gone smoothly as Asiana Flight 214 approached San Francisco International Airport — an uneventful flight for the 291 passengers, including dozens of Chinese teenagers who were arriving for a summer camp to study English and tour colleges.
But from seat 30K, Benjamin Levy knew something was wrong. Outside his window, as the plane approached the airport where Mr. Levy, a frequent traveler, knew there should have been tarmac, there was instead a terrifying sight: the waters of San Francisco Bay.
“The pilot put the gas full steam, and we tipped back up — he went full throttle to regain a bit of altitude,” Mr. Levy said from his home on Sunday, a day after he survived the crash landing that killed two 16-year-old girls among the group of Chinese students and injured 180 of the passengers arriving from South Korea.
“We were so close to the water, the water got sprayed up,” Mr. Levy said. “There were walls of water beside the window — before we started hitting earth.”
When the screaming ceased inside the Boeing 777, the plane rested on its belly, its tail and engines sheared by the crash.
Ms. Hersman’s comments, delivered at a news briefing, were based on preliminary data provided by the Boeing 777’s cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder. Other data from a private firm, FlightAware, indicated that as the plane lost forward speed, it descended much faster than normal.
Ms. Hersman emphasized that investigators could not yet draw any conclusions about the cause of the crash. But she did not indicate any sign of a mechanical malfunction and focused almost exclusively on the actions of the pilots as they prepared for landing.
Saturday was clear, with light winds, no wind shear and visibility of up to 10 miles, Ms. Hersman said. Air traffic controllers had cleared the Asiana flight for a visual approach.
What happened to the passengers depended in part on where they were sitting.
Near the front of the plane, including the first-class cabin, some passengers fled clutching their carry-on luggage. In the center of the plane where Mr. Levy sat there was no inflatable chute, as there were at other exits. At the very rear of the plane, which bore the worst of the damage, overhead compartments opened upon impact, raining luggage onto the seated passengers. Mr. Levy said there was a woman with her leg crushed between two seats, which had become uprooted. Mr. Levy and others worked to free her.
Another woman near her was initially unconscious. “She wouldn’t move,” Mr. Levy said. “There were two other guys. We couldn’t pick her up.”
Suddenly, through the hole in the tail of the plane, a firefighter charged in, rushing Mr. Levy and the remaining passengers out as smoke billowed. The jetliner was on fire.
On Sunday, hospital officials said that nearly all of
the most grievously injured passengers had been in the rear of the plane,
including six people in critical condition with spinal injuries, paralysis and
head injuries, and a few with what was described as “road rash” as if they had
been dragged.
It was not clear where the two girls who died were seated on the plane; both bodies were found on the tarmac. One of the bodies, found on the ground to the left side of the plane, may have been run over by a fire truck or another emergency vehicle in addition to her injuries from the crash, Robert J. Foucrault, the San Mateo County coroner, said on Sunday.
Mr. Foucrault said his examination was not complete, so he could not confirm that was the case.
Jang Hyung Lee, 32, was seated with his wife and their 15-month-old son in the first row of economy class. He said he heard a distant thump, then a few seconds later, a louder thump, and then saw an engine on fire to the right.
He said he was lucky to be sitting toward the front of the aircraft. Doors opened. He lined up to slide down the chute, clutching his baby in a carrier on his chest. His wife grabbed the diaper bag.
The evacuation, at least in the front of the plane where the Lee family sat, was calm and orderly.
“It wasn’t really chaos; people actually took their hand carriers,” Mr. Lee said. “People in front, they were pretty much O.K. We could walk out by ourselves.”
His in-laws in business class said luggage fell from the overhead compartments. His mother- in-law somehow knocked out a front tooth and his father-in-law is suffering from back pain, he said, but they both made it safely down another chute to waiting paramedics.
Xu Da, the production manager at Taobao, the Chinese shopping Web site, wrote on Sina Weibo, a Chinese blogging site, that he smelled “the smoke, and saw the flames.”
Nevertheless, like many other passengers, he wrote that he grabbed his carry-on bags before leaving the plane.
“I grabbed my bags as soon as it stopped,” he said of the plane. “My wife was very calm — she even picked up the scattered stuff on the ground,” he wrote, adding that the couple took their child and bags as they turned toward the rear. “There was a huge hole, quite round, so we rushed out there.”
Strapped into his exit row midway in the plane, Mr. Levy thought his ribs had been broken. Nonetheless, he stood up inside the shattered aircraft, pried open the emergency door and began to shout out directions.
“We were left on our own, there was no message from the pilot, from the crew, there was no one. We had to help each other out,” Mr. Levy said, describing how he and others stayed in the plane as they hustled other passengers out, shouting for people to keep calm, while 30 to 40 people exited the door beside him. More detail you may visit New York Times.
New York Times reports that about a minute and a half before the crash, preliminary data shows, Asiana Airlines Flight 214 sank 600 feet in nine seconds During a normal approach, the plane should have descended only 150 feet in that time.
Approximate crash incident location was On July 6, 2013, Flight 214 took off from Incheon International Airport (ICN) outside Seoul at 5:04 p.m. KST (08:04 UTC), 34 minutes after its scheduled departure time. It was scheduled to land at San Francisco International Airport (SFO) at 11:04 a.m. PDT (18:04 UTC). At 11:26 a.m. PDT (18:26 UTC), HL7742 crashed at San Francisco International Airport upon landing, short of runway 28L's threshold, striking the seawall that projects into San Francisco Bay.
Other Media, USAtoday interview shows with the following:
Meanwhile, Boeing is continue to working together and NTSB continues to investigating the issues of incident.
Sources:Boeing, NTSB New York Times, AP Flight Aware.com, USA Today, and wikipedia. catch4all.com,
Sandra Englund July 8, 2013.