Factual context, fresh insights and logical implications from last year’s crash of Asiana Airlines Flight 214 stand to influence settled beliefs about today’s state of crash-related performance of people, equipment and systems throughout commercial air transport. However, substantive changes to aircraft systems, equipment or practices affecting airplane cabin crashworthiness, occupant protection and emergency response likely would be premature pending the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board’s (NTSB’s) completion of the investigation, several subject matter experts told the agency’s Dec. 11, 2013, investigative hearing in Washington.
The NTSB’s preliminary report, last updated in August 2013, summarizes the accident this way: “On July 6, 2013, about 1128 Pacific Daylight Time, Asiana Airlines Flight 214, a Boeing 777-200ER, registration HL7742, impacted the sea wall and subsequently the runway during landing on Runway 28L at San Francisco International Airport (…
