Asiana Boeing 777 Crashes at San Francisco

An Asiana Airlines Boeing 777 aircraft enroute from Seoul to San Francisco crashed upon landing at the airport on Saturday, June 6, 2013. The flight was carrying 307 passengers according to San Francisco Emergency Medical Services. 

Image Source: Associated Press/bbc.co.uk

Initial reports suggest that the aircraft apparently hit the lip of the seawall that separates the runway from San Francisco Bay. It then slammed into the ground and skidded down the runway before coming to a final stop in an adjacent field. The aircraft's tail sheared off and the fuselage spewed out black smoke.  Fire crews sprayed water and retardant foam to douse the flames.

A representative of the National Transportation Safety Board arrived later on Saturday to take control of the investigation. Federal investigators stated that it is too early to determine a cause.

San Francisco's fire chief stated that all 307 people - 291 passengers and 16 crew - on board had been accounted for. At least 2 people have been killed while 182 others were taken to one of nine San Francisco Bay area hospitals including 49 with serious injuries. Earlier images from the crash scene had showed passengers leaving through emergency exits as smoke continued to billow out from the aircraft's fuselage. Hospitals have reported that the majority of injuries are burns and fractures. No information has been released on the dead whose bodies were found on the runway.

According to Laura Brown, a spokeswoman for the US Federal Aviation Administration, Asiana Flight 214 from Seoul crashed while attempting to land on runway 28L at San Francisco International Airport. This is the first major commercial jet crash in the United States since November 2001. The crash left a field of debris down the runway, beginning at the seawall that divides the runway from San Francisco Bay. Pieces of the tail could be seen among the wreckage.

Sources of NBC News stated that the pilot did not make a distress call prior to landing the aircraft. The National Weather Service reported few clouds in the sky at the time of the crash with temperatures at approximately 65 degrees indicating that landing conditions were favourable. 

David Eun, an Executive with Samsung Electronics on board the flight, tweeted a picture of people jumping out of the aircraft. "I just crash landed at SFO. Tail ripped off. Most everyone seems fine. I'm ok. Surreal..." said Eun. "Fire and rescue people all over the place. They're evacuating the injured. Haven't felt this way since 9/11." Eun is a self confessed "digital media guy" and "frequent flier."

Image Source: David Eun/Twitter

Another passenger who was on board the aircraft, Benjamin Levy, stated that he heard a lot of screaming following the landing. "We were approaching perfectly well, but we were too low," he said. "When the pilot realized it, he put some more thrust to correct it, but it was too late, so we hit the runway pretty bad, and we started going up in the air again, and we landed pretty hard."

Eye witness Stafanie Turner said that she saw the aircraft clip the runway with its tail before coming to a final rest with flames and smoke billowing from the fuselage. "The tail was too low. Instead of coming in flat, it was coming in at, I would say, maybe a 45-degree angle, with the tail far too low," she said.

According to Asiana Airlines, the aircraft was carrying 61 Americans, 77 Koreans, 141 Chinese, 3 Indians, 1 Japanese, 1 Vietnamese, and seven unknown nationalities.

Asiana Airlines is one of South Korea's two major airlines. Korean Air is the other national airline. A video posted on YouTube shows gray smoke billowing from the aircraft as it rests on the tarmac. Evacuation slides could be seen extending from one side of the aircraft where there is no apparent smoke. Passengers can be seen jumping down the inflatable emergency slides with the main body of the aircraft largely intact.

The airline stated on its Twitter account that it was investigating and would have news as soon as possible. It offered thoughts and prayers for the passengers and crew.

This is the third major crash for Asiana Airlines, all of which took place in the month of July. On July 26, 1993, an Asiana Boeing 737 crashed during poor weather while making its third landing attempt at Mokpo Airport. 68 out of the 116 passengers on board were killed. On July 28, 2011, an Asiana Cargo flight crashed into the Pacific Ocean just off Jeju Island following reports of a fire in the cargo compartment.

San Francisco Airport was closed for several hours following the incident. Flights had been diverted to Oakland Airport and Los Angeles International Airport. All departing flights from San Francisco had been temporarily cancelled.

Philippine Airlines issued an advisory later in the day that PR flight 104 inbound from Manila touched down safely at San Francisco International Airport at approximately 10:57am Manila time on July 7, 2013. The airport had just reopened and made two runways available to accommodate flights cancelling any need for further diversions. The airport said that restaurants had remained open overnight to accommodate flight disruptions and overnight passengers.

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