NTSB update on Asiana 214

[JammedStab]

Just happen to have recently finished the BA 777 accident report in LHR back in 2008. Now I am reading the merged PPrune thread about it. Just today I came across these interesting posts which if had been read and understood by the Asiana crew, might have prevented an accident...

http://www.pprune.org/rumours-news/3...ml#post3848116

"just a hunch from another angle, though not impossible. don't flame me. aircraft correcting from low on glidepath to slot on FLCH SPD mode? correction left too late? Capt handed control to Co-pilot on short finals. Why? Did Capt have to takeover and then hand over? Was co-pilot on training or a check? Did he goofed on FLCH SPD mode with throttle at idle. waiting for it to wake up to hold speed but did not, until a/c stall and too late to spool up manually. just speculation at another angle."

Reply...

http://www.pprune.org/rumours-news/3...ml#post3848143

"No-one flies it at FLCH SPD at that stage on the approach"

[bud leon]

Originally Posted by mickjoebill

Passengers had already exited and are visible at the rear, when the camera zoomed in.
But according to video timecode, 4 minutes after the aircraft came to rest numerous passengers/crew were still exiting the forward slides.
Presumably delayed due to obstructions? Passenger injuries?

It's probably worth reading the report to get the answers to questions like this.

Slides on doors 1L and 2L were activated about 1 minute 33 seconds after the airplane came to a stop.

If you read the report the flight crew were briefly trying to ascertain the condition of the aircraft from the tower as the dust cleared before ordering the evacuation. The cabin crew were in various states of consciousness and awareness or trapped by the slides. One of the cabin crew members saw the external engine fire and unilaterally initiated evacuation.

From the report:

"The 1R slide/raft was found deployed and deflated inside the airplane on the exit passageway floor, extending forward into the forward galley and aft into the right main aisle about 1 to 2 ft.

The 2R slide/raft was found deployed and deflated inside the airplane on the exit passageway floor, extending across the right main aisle, through the midcabin galley, and ending about 1 ft short of the left main aisle."

"The 2R slide/raft inflated into the midcabin galley and blocked the right aisle between B-zone and A-zone, preventing B-zone passengers on the right side of the airplane from moving forward into A-zone and crossing to door 1L. Instead, these passengers crossed B-zone to reach door 2L creating a bottleneck at door 2L, making it difficult for passengers to move forward to reach door 1L. This helps to explain why the flow of passengers out of door 2L remained constant and heavy for about 2 minutes 30 seconds while the flow of passengers evacuating out of door 1L slowed considerably after about 30 seconds.
Despite fastening her restraint before landing, flight attendant R3 was thrown to the floor and seriously injured during impact, and passengers assisted her from the airplane through door 3R after it was opened by passenger 30K. Therefore, flight attendant L3 was the only crewmember in the back half of the airplane who was capable of assisting with the evacuation. Her attempt to open door 3L was unsuccessful,103 so she stayed in the area of her jumpseat and directed passengers to evacuate from both doors 2L and 3R.
In summary, the evacuation was accomplished by 5 of the 12 flight attendants (the cabin manager, L1B, L2A, L2B, and L3) using 3 of the 8 doors (1L, 2L, and 3R)."

I think you really can't seriously criticise the evacuation in this incident.

[hunterboy]

I'm always amazed at how professional and altruistic people are in these kind of events. One would naturally assume it is human nature to save oneself first in a life threatening situation like this, and yet time and time again, ordinary people more than rise to the occasion and do far more than can be expected of them. Kinda makes you proud to be a human being sometimes.

[sb_sfo]

4 years ago yesterday. Had forgotten what a poor show by SFFD. I remember the Korean MoLIT had decided on a 6 month suspension of OZ flights into SFO, then bargained down to 45 days, but still on appeal?

[Koan]

Originally Posted by bud leon

You can tell that from the video can you? That's some perception you have. There were significant forces involved in the incident. Of the twelve cabin crew, eight suffered serious injuries and 2 suffered minor injuries. Four cabin crew were ejected from the aircraft when the tail separated and two were temporarily trapped by evacuation slides that inflated inside the aircraft. I think the relative speed of evacuation in this particular case is one of the impressive aspects of the video.

The video supports the investigation report finding that the person in command of firefighting had no aircraft rescue and firefighting training.

Was there any leadership decribed in the NTSB report? None is apparent in the video. I've lead hundreds of briefings with "pretties" taking notes. My experience they lack initiative, whether dealing with difficult pax or other irregularities, always needing guidance from a superior for approval. Nice to look at but In an emergency reckon I'd rather still have one of our old dags.

[gearlever]

KOAN

I agree, but was there any "leadership" on the flight deck ?

[Huck]

What in the cat-hair is that shooting out of the left pylon at 4:01?

Engine fire bottle, perhaps?

[giggitygiggity]

Saw on KPIX site today. About 2 minutes to begin evac. No leadership from crew apparent.

Well, in a nice quiet sim that has not fallen to bits after a crash it takes about 1 minute to run an A320 evac checklist (not a 777 pilot), so is 2 minutes hardly surprising? Perhaps that is too long but it might not have much to do with leadership and more to do with procedure although I assume in this case it was almost impossible to actually run the checklist as the engines weren't even attached and the PA probably useless.