SF plane crash: little talk of speed in cabin

(07-11) 15:41 PDT San Francisco -- The Asiana Airlines pilots flying the jetliner that crashed at San Francisco International Airport on Saturday didn't discuss the slow speed of the aircraft until nine seconds before they crash landed, federal investigators said Thursday.

The pilot, who was making his first landing at the airport in a Boeing 777, and his two more-experienced colleagues didn't verbally acknowledge that the plane was travelling too slowly to make a safe landing until they were at an altitude of less than 100 feet, according to a preliminary analysis of the cockpit voice recorder, said Deborah Hersman, chairwoman of the National Transportation Safety Board.

"There is no mention of speed until about nine seconds until impact," Hersman said.

Investigators have said that the plane ended up coming in 36 mph slower than it should have been, so slow that it quickly lost altitude, nearly stalled and then slammed into a rocky seawall before bouncing up, spinning across the runway and pancaking into a grassy area next to the tarmac.

Two passengers died and 180 others were injured. Two adults and one child remain in critical condition.

The pilots did not discuss aborting the landing and going around for another try until three seconds before impact, Hersman said. The pilots again called for a go-around 1.5 seconds before impact, Hersman said.

As the aircraft approached the runway, an automated computer called out that the aircraft was passing through 500 feet. At that point, 34 seconds before impact, one of the pilots told his colleagues that the landing checklist was complete, Hersman said.

At around that time, the pilots were trying to correct the altitude and course of the plane, Hersman said, and may not have noticed that the plane's speed was falling.

Investigators told airport authorities late Wednesday it was OK to begin clearing debris and fire retardant from the runway. The burned-out body of the plane will remain for at least a few more days while forensic crews continue to examine and disassemble the plane.

Airport officials said they planned to open the runway, 28L, by Sunday or Monday.