A team of investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) will be looking at the black boxes aboard the Asiana Airlines Flight 214 that crash landed at San Francisco’s airport Saturday. Media outlets, such as CNN, are attempting to recreate what occurred and it appears that the tail of the Boeing 777 aircraft impacted the rock seawall at the edge of the runway. In not clearing that seawall, the plane left a large debris trail from the water’s edge to the wreckage. The tail section of the plane was in several pieces on the runway. The short landing, according to experts, could be the result of a number of factors, alone or in combination including:
1) failure to maintain appropriate airplane glide path to the desired touchdown point due to inappropriate flight control inputs including those for engine thrust, pitch attitude and airspeed;
2) airplane systems failures including engines, engine control systems, flight control systems, radio altimeters and other systems, leading to factor #1;
3) pilot performance failures, including inadequate management of engine thrust, pitch attitude and airspeed, as well as dealing with any systems failures, leading to factor #1;
4) distractions from possible late runway changes due to air traffic control instructions, leading to factors #1 and #3 above.
Attorneys at Clifford Law Offices have a great deal of experience with issues involving Boeing aircraft, including the crash of a Boeing 737 at Schiphol Airport of Turkish Airlines Flight 634 as well as the crash of Alaska Airlines Flight 261 into the Pacific Ocean in 2000. If you have questions regarding the crash, contact Clifford Law Offices at 312-899-9090 or 847-251-4877.