04-23-2024  8:04 am   •   PDX and SEA Weather
Chelsea J. Carter, Mike M. Ahlers and Holly Yan
Published: 08 July 2013

SAN FRANCISCO (CNN) -- One of the two teen girls who died after Saturday's plane crash in San Francisco may have been killed by a first responder's vehicle.



San Mateo County Coroner Robert Foucrault said the San Francisco Fire Department told him that the girl may have been struck by a vehicle.

"Part of our examination is to determine the cause of death. Our examination will determine whether it was from the airplane crash or secondary incident," Foucrault said.

The latest news followed a flurry of developments from the crash that killed two 16-year-olds from China and left 182 people hospitalized.

Pilot's flight record

The pilot who was landing Asiana Airlines Flight 214 was making his first landing with a Boeing 777 at San Francisco International Airport, the airline said.

But it wasn't his first time flying to San Francisco. Lee Kang-kuk, the pilot who was in the captain's seat, had flown from Seoul to San Francisco several times between 1999 and 2004, the airline said.

He has clocked 43 hours flying a Boeing 777, but has piloted a total of about 10,000 hours, Asiana said.

Lee was one of four pilots on board Saturday.

South Korean and U.S. investigators will jointly question Lee on Monday, said Choi Jeong-ho, the head of South Korean's Aviation Policy Bureau.

They will also question Lee Jeong-min, who was sitting in the co-pilot's seat, Choi said.

Details from the voice recorder

The cockpit voice recorder of Asiana Airlines Flight 214 appears to show the pilots tried to abort the landing less than two seconds before the plane crashed on the runway at San Francisco International Airport, the head of the National Transportation Safety Board said Sunday.

The plane's voice and flight data recorders show that the flight from South Korea was coming in too slow and too low and that the pilots appear to have increased speed seven seconds before impact, Deborah Hersman said. A stall warning sounded four seconds before the crash, and the crew then made an internal decision "to initiate a go-around 1.5 seconds to impact," she said.

The NTSB's preliminary assessment of the plane's cockpit and flight data recorders appear to indicate that the flight went from a routine landing to a disaster in a matter of seconds. But when asked if pilot error was to blame, Hersman said the crash landing was still under investigation.

"I would discourage anyone from drawing any conclusions at this point," she said, adding that investigators are still working to corroborate the information on the recorders.

Amateur video obtained exclusively by CNN on Sunday shows the plane approaching the runway and striking what appears to be a seawall before spinning counterclockwise and coming to a stop. Fred Hayes said he shot the video about a mile from the crash scene.

Some of the answers to what happened may just hinge on what investigators found on the voice and flight data recorders.

"What we need to do is corroborate the information we have both on the flight data recorder and the cockpit voice recorder," Hersman said.

"...But I'll tell you some of the things we are seeing on the flight data recorder are mirroring some of the things that are going on on the cockpit voice recorder."

For example, she said, the increase of power in the engines appears to correlate with the cockpit crew's internal decision to do a "go-around," a call to abort the landing and try it again.

Asiana Flight 214, with 291 passengers and 16 crew members, was at the end of a more than 10-hour direct flight from Seoul, South Korea, when it began its descent.

According to the recorders, the flight's approach appeared normal as the 777 descended, and "there is no discussion of aircraft approach" among the crew.

The target air speed for the approach of the flight was 137 knots, and the crew can be heard on the cockpit voice recorder acknowledging the speed, Hersman said.

But the speed was significantly below 137 knots, and "we are not talking about a few knots," she said.

At about four seconds before the plane crash landed, the pilots received an "aural and physical" warning inside the cockpit that the plane was on the verge of an aerodynamic stall, meaning it was about to lose its ability to stay in the air.

The warning -- known as a "stick shaker" -- included a verbal warning the plane that was flying too low and a physical warning when the throttle shook.

Asiana CEO and President Yoon Young-doo has said there was no engine failure, to his knowledge. South Korean investigators will work alongside U.S. investigators.

CNN's Faith Karimi, Dana Ford, Thom Patterson and Aaron Cooper contributed to this report.

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