Evacuation Heroism: Among the wreckage of the Asiana plane crash

While a full investigation of the Asiana Flight 214 plane crash is still at least a year away, it is clear that many things went wrong during the landing, evacuation and emergency response efforts on the July 6th disaster.  That only three of the 307 passengers died is a miracle and remains as one of two bright spots in a disaster that left a San Francisco runway littered with thousands of feet of charred and smoke-stained debris.  The other is the fact that the flight attendants of this airplane stepped up and became heroes, saving many of Flight 214’s passengers.

Although we don’t yet know if the crash was the result of mechanical failure, human error or some combination of the two, all evidence seems to be pointing in the direction of the pilots.  Part of the reason we know this is by comparing the pilots’ actual behavior on the day of the crash, compared to standard procedures.

What the pilots should have done:

1. Because it was a clear, sunny day in San Francisco, an autopilot landing was not required, as would be the case when rain and heavy fog.  If the pilots had put the plane in autopilot, the plane would have probably landed itself safely. Still, manual landings during clear conditions are common as they keep pilots proficient in actually flying the planes by themselves.
2. A row of four lights to the left of each strip of runway helps pilots determine their proper altitude and approach for landing.  If the plane is too low, three or four of the lights will be red.  If the majority of the lights are white, the aircraft is too high.  Two white and two red lights mean a perfect altitude.  Still at a correctable distance from the runway, the lights were three red and one white.  The pilots could have eased on the throttle, adding thrust which would have increased the altitude of the plane as well as its landing speed to the appropriate levels. Had the pilots done this, they would have seen two red and two white lights.  Their landing speed and altitude would have been perfect.  All they needed to do was tilt up the nose of the Triple 7 slightly and touch down, avoiding the plane crash.  Bottom line: pilots should have observed the runway lights.
3. Even had they failed to do this, which they did, there was still plenty of time to abort the landing, circle back around and try a second, safer landing attempt.  The pilots simply should have rolled hard on the power to lift the aircraft far enough into the air, at a safe speed, in order to clear the runway and circle back around.  Both the pilot and the copilot, who is supposed to warn the pilot of any issues with his approach, appear to have had plenty of time to make this adjustment as well as other correctional adjustments so that a second landing altogether wouldn’t be necessary.
4. Given that the plane did crash and explode multiple times before finally coming to a stop, the crew should have given an immediate evacuation order since the plane was likely burning in several places throughout the aircraft.  Wasting even a few seconds could have turned all the passengers into victims of a 45,000 gallon jet fuel bomb.
5. Despite all that would happen on July 6^th, if the pilots had been aware and observant of the plane’s speedometer and altimeter readings throughout the landing process, as well as the fact that three red lights were seen on the runway, a crash could have been avoided.  Even if there was a failure in the auto-throttle, the landing could have still been accomplished safely.

What the pilots actually did:

1. Because conditions were clear, the pilots disengaged autopilot systems, preparing for a manual landing.  It was the inexperienced pilot’s first manual landing with a Boeing Triple 7, although one of the most experienced training captains was in the cockpit supervising.
2. The pilots armed the plane’s auto-throttle system, which adds and reduces thrust to maintain a preset airspeed much like the cruise-control feature on cars.  Although the systems were set in the “armed” position, to actually function, the systems needed to be engaged once they were armed.  It is still unclear whether the pilots engaged the systems and they failed or if the pilots were confused, thinking that simply being armed meant they were also engaged.
3. Whatever the case, the pilots likely did not look at the speedometer of the plane and clearly ignored warning lights on the runway indicating their poor approach.
4. It’s probable that, because they thought the auto-throttle was engaged, the pilots left it in idle, a position used for sitting and taxiing on the runway.
5. With auto-throttle not engaged and with the aircraft’s speed falling dramatically to 103 knots, or 54 knots below target landing speed of 157 knots, the airplane nearly stalled.  The pilots didn’t notice the low airspeed and altitude until it was too late: seven seconds before impact.
6. Four seconds before impact, the stick shaker warning system vibrated and sounded, indicating an aerodynamic stall was imminent.  At 1.5 seconds to “landing” the crew called for an abort and revved the engines at wide open throttle in a desperate attempt to clear the runway.  It was far too late.  It takes the 777’s Pratt and Whitney engines five to seven seconds to reach full thrust from idle.
7. The Tripe 7 clipped the sea wall, exploded across the runway and tumbled to a stop to the left of the runway.  The pilots didn’t call for an evacuation from the burning craft until 90 seconds after the plane came to a complete stop when flight attendants notified them of smoke inside the cabin.

Luckily, the 777’s flight attendants performed evacuation procedures efficiently and even heroically at the site of the crash.  Here’s a brief look at what the flight attendants should have done and actually did:

What the flight attendants should have done:

1. From the numerous hours spent in training, fighting fires in “fire pits” and evacuating the aircraft in large “ditching pools,” the flight attendants should have been simply acting, not thinking.
2. The attendants should have calmed both adults and children down, telling them that everything would be okay and that they should exit the flight in an orderly fashion.
3. Wasting no time, attendants should have grabbed axes and knives to deflate malfunctioning, inflatable emergency slides that deployed inside the cabin.  These were reportedly trapping and suffocating crew members against the fuselage.  This would have saved the crewmembers’ lives and provided easy access to the exits that the slides blocked.
4. Noticing smoke billowing out the side of the aircraft, the flight attendants should have notified the captain that an immediate evacuation of the plane was in order.
5. The flight attendants should have carried unconscious people outside the aircraft, saving their lives.
6. Passengers trapped in their seats by malfunctioning seat belts should have been cut free by the flight attendants.
7. They should have extinguished fires throughout the plane to prevent fuel from igniting
8. Attendants should have helped passengers leave the plane and checked for those who were unconscious, injured or elderly.
9. Attendants should have double/triple checked that everyone had made it off the plane by walking up and down the aisle several times.

What the flight attendants actually did:

The flight attendants actually did perform all of the above duties and went above and beyond in a time of extreme crisis.  The attendants helped calm frightened and shocked children and led over 290 passengers, some of whom had to be cut out of their malfunctioning seat belts by crew members, off the plane safely.  One attendant even helped carry an unconscious passenger from the burning aircraft to the tarmac. 

Perhaps the biggest hero of all was Lee Yoon-Hye, a flight attendant and the last person to leave the aircraft.  Despite breaking her tailbone during the crash, she nonetheless helped numerous passengers escape and put out fires throughout the aircraft.  Yoon-Hye walked up and down the aisles to make sure no stragglers were left behind.  She found three, including an elderly woman who had badly injured her leg.  She helped get everyone to safety.

But as she was leading them towards an exit, flames erupted around the 10^th row and another slide pinned a crewmember against the wall as the fire raged.  Yoon-Hye extinguished the obstructive fire and saved her colleague’s life by stabbing the inflatable slide with a knife.  She would have made one more pass had the rear ceiling of the Triple 7 jet not collapsed as she assisted her fellow flight attendant.  Thanks to her and her fellow crewmembers, everyone alive after the crash made it off the plane.

Yoon-Hye and others showed what flight attendants are capable of under extraordinary circumstances.  When many people think of flight attendants, their thoughts are limited to customer service skills and appearance. Many forget how well-trained and heroic they can be.