Another Asiana Plane screws up its Landing

[fountainhall]

After the San Francisco 777 crash, you'd have though Asiana would have trained their pilots not to be too eager to get their planes on the deck. Now another one has made a slightly premature landing, clipping a communications tower some distance from the runway at Hiroshima and as a result skidding on-and-then-off the runway before coming to a halt facing the wrong way on the grass verge. An engine was damaged, smoke billowed into the cabin and worried passengers were concerned about a fuel explosion. Thankfully there were no fatalities and injuries were only minor.

Asiana is one of just a handful of airlines to get the coveted Skytrax 5-star award.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/a ... -hiroshima (http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/apr/15/investigation-asiana-airways-plane-hits-communications-tower-hiroshima)

[a447]

ILS out of action at Hiroshima??

[fountainhall]

That would be too much of a coincidence. Mind you, pilots bringing the plane down too early is already coincidence enough.

Stories have gone cold on this accident. The Japan Times reported yesterday that the localiser which the plane hit is 6 meters high and situated 300 meters from the end of the runway. The aircraft should have been considerably higher at that point. Poor visibility and turbulence could have been a cause in addition to pilot error, it adds. The Wall Street Journal online says the pilots should have had the plane at least 100 meters above that tower.


The pilot was landing the plane using navigation instruments rather than autopilot, and Japanese officials hinted at several possible causes of the accident, including pilot error as well as a bad weather.
http://www.wsj.com/articles/asiana-airl ... 1429068123 (http://www.wsj.com/articles/asiana-airlines-plane-clipped-communications-towers-before-veering-off-japan-runway-1429068123)

In the wake of the German Wings disaster, it's perhaps not surprising that Korea's Transport Ministry has said it will screen all Korea-based pilots flying Airbus A320 planes for job suitability. A bit late in the day, it would seem!