Asiana crash 7.6.2013

[Pigeon]

At this early point everything is still in play but it sure looks like some pilots made mistakes flying the plane. If so, many possibilities there.

The pilots aborting the landing - go around - would gain altitude as the engines spooled up. In this case there seems to not have been enough distance from the vertical object (wall) to allow the engines to increase power and lift.

If the plane was very slow it might stall which means it would just fall. With out a lot of altitude to work with it would not be correctable.

[Pigeon]

Based on the debris field, the aircraft appears to have struck the rock "sea wall" well before the start of the runway. There are some marks on the sea wall, consistent with an impact of some part of the plane. Some aircraft debris ended up in the water.

Passengers described the cabin interior as heavily damaged with overhead bins dropping and at least one life raft/escape slide inflating inside the aircraft, trapping a flight attendant, who was freed by passengers.

It has been reported that some passengers were seen climbing out of the bay.

[Royal]

Would a opening in the back of the plane cause any rapid losses in altitude?

[Royal]

Was the pop heard from passengers during flight the back of the plane hitting the bay or was it something else? Hopefully they didn't get it confused with landing gear opening up.

[Pigeon]

Some Fox stuff

Asiana Airlines said Monday that the pilot in control of the Boeing 777 that crashed in San Francisco Saturday had little experience flying that type of plane and was landing one for the first time at that airport.

Asiana spokeswoman Lee Hyomin told the Associated Press Monday that Lee Gang-guk was trying to get used to the 777 during Saturday's crash landing. She says the pilot had nearly 10,000 hours flying other planes, including the Boeing 747, but had only 43 hours on the 777.

Hyomin told Reuters that co-pilot Lee Jeong-min has 3,220 hours of flying experience with the Boeing 777 and a total of 12,387 hours of flying experience, and was helping his colleague with the landing.

In all, four pilots were on the plane and worked in rotating shifts during the 10-and-a-half hour flight from Seoul. The pilots were described by Asiana chief executive Yoon Young-doo Sunday as veterans, with more than 10,000 hours of flight experience. "And one pilot has 9,000, almost 10,000 hours' experience," he said.

[Pigeon]

I am willing to bet the pop had to do with the crash.

[Pigeon]

At about 4:45 EDT today, the NTSB held a press conference, and it appears most of our conjecture is correct. The target approach speed was 137 kt (not 145). Just before impact, the power was indeed at idle, and the airspeed dropped "significantly below 137 knots and we're not talking about a few knots." Seven seconds before impact, a pilot called for increased power. At 4 seconds before impact, the stick shaker actuated, indicating incipient stall. At 1.5 seconds, a pilot called for a go-around, much too late, obviously. So it appears (so far) that our analysis is more or less correct.

More detail at Link

[Pigeon]

The tail's lower portion was in the rocks at the seawall and "a significant piece of the tail" was in the water, she said. Additional aircraft parts were visible at low tide. On the path that leads along the pavement away from the seawall were horizontal stabilizers, a vertical stabilizer and an upper portion of the tail cone, she said.

[Royal]

Do subs have tractor beams?

[Pigeon]

North Korean subs do not. Now had that plane been towing one on a very long cable...