armchair experts abound! wrote:
I guess if you're using a layperson definition of "approach", then yes. But then what good is the witness statement. Might as well have said, "Well he was supposed to land on the runway in one piece but instead he landed short of the runway in a bunch of pieces."
Asiana Airlines Flight 214 was traveling well below its target speed for landing when it crashed short of the runway Saturday, National Transportation Safety Board Chairman Deborah Hersman said at a briefing Sunday.
"The speed was significantly below 137 knots, and we're not talking a few knots," she said.
Asiana Airlines said the pilot in charge of landing the Boeing 777 was in training for flying that model of jet, and that this was his first flight into San Francisco at the controls of a 777, the Associated Press reported.
"It was Lee Kang-kook's maiden flight to the airport with the jet." a spokeswoman for Asiana Airlines who was not identified by name said, the news agency reported. It reported that he had flown Boeing 747 jets into San Francisco's airport previously, and was assisted on this flight by another pilot with more experience flying the 777.
The plane was travelling "significantly below" its intended speed and its crew tried to abort the landing just seconds before it hit the seawall in front of the runway, the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board said on Sunday.