From Crewmeal
Quote:
Sources in the country's transport ministry confirmed Bong Dong Won - who was in the cockpit jump seat - repeatedly yelled "sink rate" in the final minute before the crash, it was reported.
If the sink rate - the rate of decrease in altitude - was checked when Mr Bong raised the alarm, it may have prevented the plane from hitting the seawall as it landed at San Francisco Airport, reports said.
But the two pilots at the controls - Lee Kang Kuk and his instructor Lee Jung Min - apparently did not respond to Mr Bong's shouted warnings, the respected Joongang Daily newspaper said.
This from Sky News
It's all coming out in the wash.
IF Sky News is reporting this correctly (that would be a first) and IF the original source is correct and IF this is backed up by the CVR, this is suggestive of several things, both positive and negative
On the positive side:
A) The FO in the jump seat was paying attention
B) He identified the issue (and would appear to have done so well before the two in front - nearly a minute earlier)
C) He had the gumption/guts/training to bring it to the attention of the two far more senior bods in front of him, as he should
On the negative side
D) His (repeated) "sink rate" warnings seem to have been uncrecognised / ignored / otherwise not acted upon for close to a minute, until the PF moved the throttles forward at 7 secs to go. (The LTC is recorded as stating that when he went to move the throttles forward, they had already been moved by the PF)
E) The LTC apparently called for go around at 1.5 seconds before impact. Quite how he thought this was going to be achieved from basically zero altitude at vRef-30 or more is quite another matter!
@aa5bpilot
interesting plots - thanks for these, not least the amount of other arrivals who were way below vref (though possibly in different conditions and, as you say this is GS, not IAS). Another caveat being, of course, that this is FA data