NTSB Hearing Set on Asiana Crash
Asiana Flight 214 crashed on approach to San Francisco's airport in clear weather. Experts from Boeing, the FAA, and other agencies are participating in the Dec. 11 investigative hearing, which is being streamed as a live webcast.
The National Transportation Safety Board will begin its investigative hearing to discuss its ongoing investigation of the crash of Asiana Airlines Flight 214 at 8:30 a.m. EST Dec. 11 and has condensed it to a single day, with almost 12 hours of testimony and discussion planned. The aircraft crashed on July 6, 2013, while on approach to San Francisco International Airport. Three passengers died.
The hearing will take place in Washington, D.C., and will be closely watched, given that one focus will be on pilot awareness in highly automated aircraft. The hearing will be available as a live webcast.
NTSB Chair Deborah A.P. Hersman will give opening and closing remarks and will be available to answer media questions at the end of each day of the hearing, according to the posted agenda and a Dec. 5 NTSB news release.
Asiana Airlines, the Asiana Pilot Union, Boeing, the FAA, and the city and county of San Francisco are parties to the hearing.
The agenda lists topic areas to be discussed in the various phases of the hearing. These include Boeing's design philosophy for the B777 as it relates to awareness of airspeed/energy, Asiana's pilot training on B777 automated systems and its training on performing visual approaches, how the Korea government oversees Asiana's training program, the effects of automation on pilots' workload, and common errors associated with pilots' use of flight deck automation.
The final phases are concerned with emergency response to the crash scene -- with San Francisco Fire Department Chief Dale Carnes scheduled to testify -- and airplane cabin crashworthiness and occupant protection.
Investigative exhibits for the hearing will be available at http://www.ntsb.gov/news/events/2013/asiana214_hearing/index.html once the hearing begins.
(The photograph of the damaged aircraft that accompanies this article is a Mike Brake / Shutterstock.com photo.)