Thread: Boeing 777 crashes while landing at San Francisco airport

Boeing 777 crashes while landing at San Francisco airport

A Boeing 777 operated by Asiana Airlines crashed while landing at San Francisco International Airport on Saturday, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.
The airplane was coming in from Seoul, South Korea and apparently crashed sometime after touching down on Runway 28. No other details were immediately available.
This is a developing story. Check back for more updates.

Video from the scene posted on YouTube shows dark gray smoke rising from the aircraft.

Too low, too slow, landed short struck tail on rock, hard landing IMO.

Originally Posted by oldguy

Too low, too slow, landed short struck tail on rock, hard landing IMO.

Agree, he landed short.

Boeing 777 crash lands, spins, burns at San Francisco airport

By Greg Botelho and Mike M. Ahlers, CNN
updated 5:57 PM EDT, Sat July 6, 2013

David Eun was on Asiana Airlines Flight 214 when it crashed at San Francisco International Airport on Saturday, July 6. Along with this image posted to Path.com, David wrote, "I just crash landed at SFO. Tail ripped off. Most everyone seems fine. I'm ok. Surreal..."
Smoke billows from the Boeing 777 after it crash landed on July 6.
iReporter Amanda Painter captured this photo while waiting at the San Francisco airport on July 6. The entire airport has shut down and flights diverted to other airports.
iReporter Timothy Clark was standing on the eighth floor of the Embassy Suites Airport Hotel when he heard a loud crashing sound from outside.
iReporter Val captured this photo while waiting in a departure lounge at the San Francisco airport on July 6. Val observed the billowing smoke and emergency responders' rush in.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• NEW: Air traffic controller had told crew, "We have everyone on their way"
• Boeing 777 crashed at San Francisco International Airport
• Pictures show parts of the plane's roof charred or ripped off
• At least one person is flown to a hospital, U.S. Coast Guard says

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(CNN) -- A Boeing 777 bound from South Korea crashed Saturday upon landing at San Francisco International Airport, sending up a huge fireball and spinning before finally coming to a stop -- having lost its tail and, eventually, much of its charred roof.
Asiana Airlines Flight 214 left Seoul's Incheon International Airport earlier Saturday, according to FlightAware, a website that offers tracking services for private and commercial air traffic. An airline spokesman told CNN that 291 passengers and 16 staff members were aboard, an Asiana Airlines spokesperson told CNN from Seoul.
The U.S. Coast Guard has transported one person to Stanford Hospital, said Corrine Gaines of the military branch. She did not provide additional information on the patient's status. In brief remarks to reporters around 2 p.m. (5 p.m. ET), airport spokesman Doug Yakel did not offer any details on the conditions of the plane's passengers.
Air traffic control audio -- between the airport's tower and Flight 214 crew members -- suggested that those on the ground knew there was some sort of problem, promising that "emergency vehicles are responding."
"We have everyone on their way," the air traffic controller said, according to LiveATC.net, a website that provides air traffic control audio.
Anthony Castorani, who witnessed the flight land from a nearby hotel, said he saw the plane touch the ground then noticed a larger plume of white smoke.
"You heard a pop and you immediately saw a large, brief fireball that came from underneath the aircraft," he told CNN.


Plane loses tail during crash landing


Plane crashes at San Francisco airport


'Large, brief fireball' as plane landed
Kristina Stapchuck saw the dramatic scene unfold from her seat on a plane on the airport tarmac. Soon after Flight 214 touched down, "it looked like the tires slipped a little bit and it rocked back," she told CNN.
Parts of the plane began to break off as it rocked and then began to spin.
Follow latest developments in the story
"It all happened so suddenly," Stapchuck told CNN.
A photo provided to CNN by Eunice Bird Rah -- and shot by her father, who was a passenger on the plane -- shows flames and smoke bursting out of many of the aircraft's windows.
Rah's father knew something bad was coming, he told his daughter, telling her the plane was coming in too low and the pilot tried to raise it at the last minute. Rah said her father "is doing fine, thank God," but noted that others appeared to be hurt.
Said Rah: "It's heartbreaking."
Video taken soon after the crash and posted on YouTube showed dark gray smoke rising from the plane, which appeared to be upright. That smoke later became white, even as fire crews continued to douse the plane.
CNN iReporter Timothy Clark was on an eighth-floor balcony of a nearby hotel when he heard the noise and saw a "dust cloud."
"Then people running from the plane, then flames," Clark said.
A photograph posted to Twitter shows what appear to be passengers walking off the plane, some of them toting bags, as smoke rises from the other side.
"I just crash landed at SFO," read the accompanying message from David Eun. "Tail ripped off. Most everyone seems fine. I'm ok. Surreal..."

The Boeing 777-200LR has been in service since March 2006

The plane can carry 301 passengers and travel a maximum distance of 9,395 nautical miles

Asiana Airlines operates 71 aircraft and serves 14.7 million passengers annually

The airline was voted Airline of the Year by Global Traveler in 2011

In 1993, Asiana Airlines Boeing 737 crashed killing 68 people

The top of the aircraft was charred and, in spots, gone entirely, according to video from CNN affiliate KTVU. The plane was on its belly, with no landing gear evident and the rear tail of the plane gone.
Debris settled from the water's edge, along San Francisco Bay, up to where the plane eventually came to a stop.
Fire trucks were on site; first responders could be seen walking outside the aircraft.
Evacuation slides could be seen extending from one side of the aircraft, from which there was no apparent smoke.
Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook's chief operating officer and author of the book "Lean In," was supposed to be on the flight.
But she wrote on her Facebook page that she'd switched instead to a United flight, arriving about 20 minutes before the Asiana flight crashed.
The Bay Area airport was closed to incoming and departing traffic after the crash, the Federal Aviation Administration said on its website, adding that the time when it's expected to reopen is unknown.
Flights destined for San Francisco's airport -- known by its call letters, SFO -- were being diverted to airports in Oakland, Sacramento, San Jose and Los Angeles, said Francis Zamora from the San Francisco Department of Emergency Management. He added his office is working with San Mateo County's Office of Emergency Services in responding to the incident, Zamora said.
San Francisco International Airport, located some 12 miles south of downtown San Francisco, is California's second busiest, behind LAX.
There were a few clouds in the sky around the time of the crash, and temperatures were about 65 degrees, according to the National Weather Service. Winds were about 8 miles per hour.
The National Transportation Safety Board is sending a "go team" that will be led by chairwoman Deborah Hersman to investigate the crash, the agency said. Boeing is "preparing to provide technical assistance" to investigators, company spokesman Miles Kotay said in a statement.
There are no signs of terrorism related to the crash, a national security official told CNN. President Barack Obama was at Camp David when he learned about the crash, a senior White House official said.
Asiana Airlines -- one of South Korea's two major airlines, the other being Korean Air -- is investigating the cause of the crash, a company spokesman told CNN.
The airline got the plane involved in the incident in 2006, according to the Aviation Safety Network. The craft has two Pratt & Whitney engines, it said.
Asiana operates many of its flights out of Incheon International Airport, which is the largest airport in South Korea and considered among the busiest in the world.
According to information on Asiana Airlines' website, the company has 12 Boeing 777 planes. They have a seating capacity of between 246 and 300 people and had a cruising speed of 555 mph (894 kph).
http://www.cnn.com/2013/07/06/us/california-plane-incident/

Reports: 2 dead in San Francisco airport crash
Asiana Flight 214 from Seoul was attempting to land at San Francisco International Airport when it crashed. sfo crash landing. A fire truck sprays water on Asiana Flight 214 after it crashed at San Francisco International Airport on July 6, 2013.
'One dead and 20 to 30 injured' in San Francisco plane crash The Guardian

Asiana Airlines at a glanceWashington Post

Highly Cited: San Francisco crash landing: Latest developments CNN International
From Hong Kong:At least two people killed in San Francisco plane crash United Press International, Asia

San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center treating 8 adults, 2 kids, all critical, hurt in plane crash.

Sixty people are unaccounted for following the plane crash at San Francisco International Airport, fire chief says.

2 dead, 181 hospitalized after S. Korean jet crash-lands in San Francisco
Washington Post - 9 minutes ago

Of the 307 people aboard Asiana Flight 214 that crash-landed Saturday, only one remains unaccounted for, authorities say