NTSB Investigator in Charge Bill English, foreground, and NTSB Chairwoman Deborah Hersman discuss the progress of the investigation into the crash of Asiana Airlines Flight 214 in San Francisco. The Asiana flight crashed upon landing Saturday and two of the 307 passengers aboard were killed.SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. – As Flight 214 descended over San Francisco Bay, both Asiana Airlines pilots were in new roles.
In the left seat of the cockpit sat a pilot with just 35 hours of experience flying a Boeing 777 who was landing the big jet for his first time at San Francisco International Airport. At his right was a trainer making his first trip as an instructor pilot.
While the two men had years of aviation experience, this mission involved unfamiliar duties, and it was the first time they had flown together. The flight came to a catastrophic end when the airliner crash-landed Saturday, killing two passengers and injuring many others.
Experts say investigators trying to piece together what went wrong will be considering the pairing of the pilots, who were assigned to work together through a tightly regulated system developed after several deadly crashes in the 1980s were blamed in part on inexperience in the cockpit.
The National Transportation Safety Board “is definitely going to focus on what type of policy Asiana had in terms of crew pairing,” former NTSB Chairman James Hall said.