HL7742 AAR214 777 Crash, Korean Asiana Airlines, San Francisco

The pilot did say he thought it might have been a reflection of sunlight. Regardless, shining a laser at a plane could result in a crash and we're lucky that hasn't happened yet.

He told investigators the light may have been a reflection of the sun.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/...light-214-crash-pilot-flash-of-light/2510385/

I wonder if the United Airlines 747 sitting on the taxi way at the end of 28L with it's big white fuselage sitting perpendicular to the runway, and thus the approach path, was the source of the reflection? Didn't the crash happen sometime around noonish on a clear day when the sun would have been pretty much directly overhead?

http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=news/iteam&id=9167520

Note the angle of the front portion of the fuselage. Things that make ya go hmmmmm.




A still from the video of the crash does show a noticeable reflection off that 747, the plane on the ground to the left. The plane that crashed is on the right, with a highlight added for better contrast that has nothing to do with a reflection.

solrey said:

Regardless, shining a laser at a plane could result in a crash and we're lucky that hasn't happened yet.

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Agreed!

We get reflections off many things, including water and just plain old glare from the setting sun. The pilot was not a rookie and neither was the trainer, just rookies in their particular roles during the flight. They would have encountered that many times in their careers

I highly doubt a laser was responsible.

My one experience with a laser attack was on approach into Shanghai during late dusk. The laser was approx 2-3 miles away and it was a distraction more than anything else, although the second officer did report "funny" vision for about an hour afterwards.

TWCobra said:

We get reflections off many things, including water and just plain old glare from the setting sun. The pilot was not a rookie and neither was the trainer, just rookies in their particular roles during the flight. They would have encountered that many times in their careers

I highly doubt a laser was responsible.

My one experience with a laser attack was on approach into Shanghai during late dusk. The laser was approx 2-3 miles away and it was a distraction more than anything else, although the second officer did report "funny" vision for about an hour afterwards.

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I hear ya. I only have about 100 hours as a private pilot many moons ago and traveled extensively by plane for a year with a job as an A&P, but I know what you mean, reflections and glare are part of the deal. Do you think that if the pilots had already put themselves in a precarious situation that catching some glare at a crucial moment could have been a contributing factor, such as a few seconds of distraction when they should have been cranking up the throttle?

Hey, at this point any talk of a laser is pure speculation. Let's stick to fact. It's tempting, but I don't want to be part of the next conspiracy theory. Unlèss that is where the evidence leads. Let's see where the NTSB report leads us.

Do you think that if the pilots had already put themselves in a precarious situation that catching some glare at a crucial moment could have been a contributing factor, such as a few seconds of distraction when they should have been cranking up the throttle?

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I find the entire accident inexplicable. There are many examples of accidents in adverse weather which had mitigating factors but to do this in perfect weather, with a perfectly functioning modern airliner equipped with sophisticated aids and instruments and three qualified pilots is very troubling.

Maybe the NTSB will come up with something that explains it properly but I am betting that the words "unstable approach" and "mode confusion" will feature heavily in the final report.

TWCobra said:

I find the entire accident inexplicable.

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I don't - I've worked with many people who's worked in that part of the world and such an accident is overdue I'm afraid.
It's more of a testament as to how good modern airliners are, how foolproof they are virtually all the time.

Looks like someone is managing to get a laugh out of it all.

How did that even happen?!

cosmic said:

How did that even happen?!

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http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/13/us-ntsb-apologizes-for-asiana-intern_n_3590008.html?1373689707&icid=maing-grid7%7Cmain5%7Cdl2%7Csec1_lnk2%26pLid%3D343540

The National Transportation Safety Board apologized on Friday after an intern mistakenly confirmed to a local television station racially offensive fake names for the pilots of an Asiana flight that crashed in San Francisco.

Hah, "mistakenly confirmed" -- that must be a new synonym for trolling/pranking.

Kelly Nantel, a spokeswoman for the NTSB, said the intern was a student volunteering his time who answered phones but was supposed to pass on questions to official media representatives at the agency.

She declined to say if the intern was fired, but the NTSB said in its statement that "appropriate actions will be taken to ensure that such a serious error is not repeated."

Hopefully the intern got kicked so hard that he hasn't landed yet. Still, that's only half the issue to me. I'm surprised nobody at KTVU recognized the text for what it was. Wonder if they'll amend their promo...

“Being first on air and on every platform in all aspects of our coverage was a great accomplishment, but being 100% accurate, effectively using our great sources and social media without putting a single piece of erroneous information on our air, is what we are most proud of as a newsroom.”

He's a quick wit if he came up with those names on the spot. Probably they were doing the rounds of the office already.

A video has been put together which illustrates the final parts of the approach.



I didn't think about it before this, but the lateral offset to the right that developed probably saved many lives as otherwise the aircraft would have struck the approach lighting; rupturing the fuel tanks and breaking up in the Bay.

With reference to finding this accident inexplicable... Losing sight of the runway should have triggered the go around reflex from all three pilots. To continue a visual approach at that altitude without being able to see the runway is just inexplicable.

I don't know why these YouTubers need to add a full minute of title before it starts, but fast forward right to one minute.

This guy is saying it was TWO drills and there were two planes. Doesn't explain how it was continuously filmed of course.

Here's a timelapse of the removal of the wreckage. No way could anyone have done the reverse to place a wrecked plane next to a runway at a busy international airport with nobody noticing.

When he was asked when the planes were switched, he said "These were drills run for about 1 month we even know they asked for a new plane to run the drills." I wonder, he obviously thinks entire incident was filmed over a month and then televised?

You probably remember KTVU’s royal eff up with reading obviously fake Asian names for the pilots of the Asiana crash. Names like “Wi To Lo” and “Ho Lee Fuk”.

It looks like a Korean news agency is having some fun at KTVU’s expense. After the landing gear failure of the Southwest flight at LGA they showed this graphic with American pilot names “Captain Kent Parker Wright”, “Co-Captain Wyatt Wooden Workman”.

They even went as far as making up fake names for people to interview. Flight instructor “Heywood U. Flye-Moore” and skeptical passenger “Macy Lawyers”.

Well played Korean TV, well played.

http://slothed.com/2013/07/23/korea...fter-southwest-airlines-landing-gear-failure/

Pete Tar said:

You probably remember KTVU’s royal eff up with reading obviously fake Asian names for the pilots of the Asiana crash. Names like “Wi To Lo” and “Ho Lee Fuk”.

It looks like a Korean news agency is having some fun at KTVU’s expense. After the landing gear failure of the Southwest flight at LGA they showed this graphic with American pilot names “Captain Kent Parker Wright”, “Co-Captain Wyatt Wooden Workman”.

They even went as far as making up fake names for people to interview. Flight instructor “Heywood U. Flye-Moore” and skeptical passenger “Macy Lawyers”.

Well played Korean TV, well played.

http://slothed.com/2013/07/23/korea...fter-southwest-airlines-landing-gear-failure/

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George Takei posted about this earlier on FB. lol

Yeah, that's where I found it too.