Too low, too slow!

I’m going to put on my Flight Instructor hat for a few moments and talk about the Asiana crash at San Francisco Saturday. We don’t know EXACTLY what went wrong so any comments by me are speculation although I will let you know that I know a few things about landing an airplane, having taught many pilots over 15 years. What applies to small single engine airplanes also applies to large Boeing 777’s.

I saw a news report that bothered me because it quoted someone apparently from the FAA talking about “stabilized approaches” as being a problem. I’m not sure the news service got this right as the FAA has instructors such as myself teach and emphasize “stabilized  approaches.” What this means is that the pilot sets up the plane on final approach to fly towards the runway at a constant descent rate, at a constant airspeed and a constant power setting. This is what I did when I taught brand new pilots from the first lesson.

For example on a Cessna 152 I would set the power to 1500 RPM, the airspeed to 70 knots and get a descent rate of 500 FPM. What this meant was that as you flew towards the runway, you would see the plane descending constantly and the airspeed would not fluctuate.

It was apparent from the crash at SFO that the plane’s tail hit the end of the runway just as the pilot was apparently applying full power. By then it was too late. Why he came in so low and so slow we don’t know. That, I’m sure, will be looked at closely by the FAA and NTSB.

What is lost somewhat in all this, is that only 2 people died and although there were over a 180 people injured, many others survived without injury. Watching the few clips of the crash, I was amazed that the 777 stayed intact after hitting the runway so violently. I think we should commend Boeing for making such a tough airplane. Also we should praise the cabin crew for getting everyone out as quickly as they did. With all the hype about the miraculous nature of people surviving, remember the two things, the strength of the airplane and the training of the crew. That’s really what made this survivable.

Flying is still safe!