AIR CRASH AT SAN FRANCISO AIRPORT

   CNN News now.

A Boeing 777-300 - San Franciso airport - emergency landing, plane on fire, Asiana Airways out of Seoul, S Korea. No details of psssenger status as yet. LL

Oh God, no poor souls - video on Sky now:

http://news.sky.com/story/1112466/boeing-plane-crash-lands-in-san-francisco

. Passengers could be seen jumping down the inflatable emergency slides.

I've given up on the video, LL, not only did it keep buffering, but the third flaming ad was starting...

bb1 wrote:I've given up on the video, LL, not only did it keep buffering, but the third flaming ad was starting...

Go on to CNN if you can, it's on now. LL

D'uh, guess who forgot she gets CNN, Fox, etc., live....   


Thank the Lord there seem to be many survivors?

http://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/news/2013/07/06/airline-crash-san-francisco/2495099/
with brief video. LL

Survivor on twitter:

David Eun ‏@Eunner 3h
I just crash landed at SFO. Tail ripped off. Most everyone seems fine. I'm ok. Surreal... (at @flySFO) [pic] — https://path.com/p/1lwrZb



Looks like most people got off OK?

Lots of activity here. Friends, pls don't call right now. I'm fine. Most people are totally calm and trying to let the fire and rescue do their jobs. Just like during 9/11, most people are great and try to be helpful in crisis... - more from David.

He sounds amazingly calm; I suppose twitter is the fastest way to let everyone know you're OK...

Everyone seems to have got off in one piece, LL - which is a true miracle.

That was premature, there appears to have been two fatalities, and 40-odd injured.

I'm at a loss to understand why the Wail readers are getting their panties in a bunch about David sending a tweet and a pic:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2357563/I-just-crash-landed-SFO-Samsung-executive-tweets-dramatic-escape-burning-Boeing-777.html

I personally admire his cool head; within seconds of the crash, he'd not only let his family know he was OK, other people with loved ones aboard could see that that there were many, many survivors.

Mind you, he was probably in shock at the time and is currently lying down in a dark room with a very large drink...

This may have been pilot(s) error.  Possibly cultural differences as they did not request to go around after they most likely received a runway change from L to R or vice versa.  So would have been resetting some controls. They came in way too slow and too low.  The tail hit the water.......(as I understand it)......

You can always count on some people to be ridiculous.  That guy used his head and was really cool under terrifying circumstances.  

Kudos to him.  

I'm just glad almost everyone survived, Lily, the first pictures were horrifying. It was ONLY when that twitterpic came out that the world could see how many folk had got off safely.

Awful that anyone died, or was injured, of course, but David keeping his wits about him let viewers with loved ones on board see that there WERE many, many survivors.

My knowledge of air safety is mainly culled from watching Air Crash Investigation, so I'm not going to guess, anything could have happened in those critical few seconds. I hope it wasn't pilot error, that must be a terrible thing to have on your conscience. The cabin crew seem to have done a fine job in getting everyone off so quickly, though.

Incidentally, I noticed something interesting....many of the eye-witnesses on the ground at first claimed the plane 'cart-wheeled'. We quickly saw it did no such thing, which does raise questions about 'eye witness reports'.

Did they see a plane crashing, remember horrifying videos of other crashes, and somehow confuse reality with what they'd seen on film? Most odd.

I'm glad so many people got off too, Bonny. Like you, the twitter picture was so important to so many people who had loved ones aboard that flight. There are times when twitter is invaluable.

The cause could, of course, have been mechanical and that would be more bearable. I cannot imagine having anything like that on the conscience.

Yes, I noticed that too that it did not cartwheel, and that would not sit with the accounts from passengers anyway. It just goes to show how people's brains fool them sometimes.........

The tail hit the water.......

According to the report on CNN it probably hit the sea wall that separates the runway from the bay. LL

That could have happened too but my source (who knows SFO really well) thought it was the water.

This is odd. It's just been announced that the FBI are taking over the investigation...I do admit to being puzzled as to why the tail came off so cleanly?

lily wrote:That could have happened too but my source (who knows SFO really well) thought it was the water.  

To me it looks like he was too low, tried to gain height and the tail whacked the wall. Many years since I was last at SF airport so maybe the layout has changed. If the plane nose comes up too fast the tail will impact. LL

That's interesting Bonny. It will all become clear in due course.

Indeed, Lily - it will be interesting to find out why the cabin roof caught fire, and not the fuel tanks in the wings - that was another miracle.

It did strike me in the pre-fire pics that the plane didn't look as if it had lost its tail in a crash, but as if the manufacturers hadn't put it on yet...

There is a good article on it here from the BBC.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-23216587

Apologies LL, it may have whacked the sea wall.

That is a good report, Lily - I hadn't realised what an amazing safety record 777s have.

Yes they do. I am glad of it as I often fly on them around this part of the world.

Have seen reports that the glidescope was not working on the runway so used visuals instead.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glideslope