American Airlines Flight Diverts to Shannon with Smokey Cabin

Some stories of the Asiana Crash in San Francisco

Currently there are 51 hospitalized, 8 in critical condition, one child. Five fire attendants are being treated for burns.

Federal investigators talked to the pilots why they shut down the autopilot 82 seconds before landing. This was the first time the pilot had landed a 777 at this airport. When the fire started in the middle of the plane, there were passengers still in the back that had to walk through the smoke to exit, passing people trapped in their seats. Flight attendants heroically got passengers out of the plane, and tried to put out the fire.

One passenger Eugene Ra describes the instants before the crash, looking out the window knowing they were too low. THe plane’s impact was powerful enough that it snapped the plane, and the spines of at least two of the passengers. The cabin filled with smoke and fear. After the plane stopped, there was silence.

The plane flew in too low and too slow, initiating a stick shaker (stall) warning, and struck the sea wall, severing art of the tail.

Plane Crash San Francisco Asiana Airlines Crash Survivor Interview

* A cautionary note: The official investigation of the cause of the crash will take a year or more. No matter what news releases or speculations come about before the official investigation is just speculation. We do not know, for example, if some part or software in the plane malfunctioned, leading the pilots to respond as they did.