South Korean Asiana Airlines Flight 214 crash landed at San Francicso International Airport runway 28, killing 2 and injuring around 200...
South Korean Asiana Airlines Flight 214 crash landed at San Francicso International Airport runway 28, killing 2 and injuring around 200 at 11.36 am local time on Saturday. The flight departed Shanghai, China, and had a stopover in Incheon Airport Seoul, South Korea on July 6, 2013 at 16:35 (Korean time).
The airplane made a very hard landing causing the airplane to skid several yards through the runway and caught fire. Eyewitnesses said that the aircraft was swaying unusually from side to side on approaching the runway and was at an unusual nose-high, low-tail attitude, due to which the aft fuselage hit the ground losing control. Passengers escaped by sliding down through emergency inflatable slides as flames tore through the plane.
Flightglobal reported, the incident created a debris field that extended from the edge of the runway apron to the remains of the main fuselage and wings lying several hundred feet ahead.
Portions of the aircraft's tail fin and horizonal stabilisers are strewn on the runway apron.
There were a total of 291 passengers (19 business class, 272 travel class) and 16 cabin crew aboard. The majority of the passengers were comprised of 77 Korean citizens, 141 Chinese citizens, 61 US citizens, 1 Japanese citizen, etc. for a total of flightglobal291 people.
The robustness of the Boeing 777 aircraft was clear from the fact that fuselage damage was due to post crash fire and multiple redundant systems, stronger seats, and the use of nontoxic materials in construction saved lives.
According to flightglobal the aircraft, registered as HL7742, was delivered on 7 March 2006, and had accumulated 35,700 h on 5,185 cycles as of 31 March.
The 777-200ER, one of 12 in the Asiana fleet, was powered by the Pratt & Whitney PW4090 engines.
The airline added the Boeing 777-200ER long-range wide-body twin-engine jets in 2004 to its fleet. Asiana Airlines is one of South Korea's two major airlines, along with Korean Air. As a member of Star Alliance, it operates 14 domestic and 90 international passenger routes, and 27 cargo routes throughout Asia, Europe, North America, and Oceania.
