Plane Was Flying 30 Knots Below Target Approach Speed

The pilots flying Asiana Flight 214 that went down on landing at San Francisco International Airport (KSFO) have told federal investigators that they had properly set the auto throttles on the Boeing 777 for approach, according to a report in the Los Angeles Times.

Data gathered from the Flight Data Recorder indicate that the triple 7 was flying 30 knots below the target 137 knot approach speed during the visual approach. The ILS system for KSFO was inoperative at the time of the accident while it is being relocated, but the NTSB and FAA have said that the localizer and other systems were functioning properly.

NTSB Chairman Deborah A.P. Hersman said in a briefing that Lee Kang-kook was in the left seat for the approach. He was being supervised by Lee Jung-min, who had been certified as a training pilot in the type June 15. The relief first officer was in the cockpit jump seat monitoring the approach.

Hersman said that setting the auto throttle does not absolve the pilots from the responsibility of monitoring the approach. "Let me be clear," she said. "The crew is required to maintain a safe aircraft, which means that they need to monitor. They have a monitoring function, all three of them in the cockpit. One of the very critical things that need to be monitored on approach to landing is speed."

Lee Kang-kook has nearly 10,000 total flying time, and had reportedly made the approach into KSFO 39 times as a co-pilot aboard Boeing 747s. Lee Jung-min has 12,000 hours, and had made 33 approaches into the airport.

At a media briefing in Seoul Tuesday, South Korean President Yoon Young-doo said the pilots were "excellent" and well qualified to make the approach into KSFO.

(Image from file.)

FMI: www.ntsb.gov