Some under-reported information about the Korean flight
If I might interrupt the Zimmerman grouse-fest, there actually are other things going on in the world.
I was speaking to a friend this morning who flew commercially for 35 years, including a few years with Korean. He flew the heavies and Captained landings into SFO hundreds of times over his career. So I believe he is well informed.
His first take, of course, is that this was a clear case of pilot error -- on the part of all 4. However, he said there were two huge mitigating factors that I had not heard reported anywhere. It probably has been reported but our media only wants to talk about body counts and punked Teevee stations.
He said that there are two important landing control systems at every large airport, and BOTH of these systems were down on that runway that day. One is an electronic system that very accurately controls the glide path. He said its name, but I don't remember it. The other is a low-tech system of red and green lights mounted an an angle such that when you are around the 3% (or is it 3 degrees?) you see green lights. If you are below that, you see red lights. That system was also down.
He went on to say that there should have been a system on board the aircraft that also monitors the landing slope, but it is not as accurate as the ground-based system, and therefore would not have given warnings as soon. He also said that any pilot experienced on heavy aircraft should have known they were WAY too low over the bay, so the above factors don't change the fact that it was primarily pilot error. But it seems to me these are 2 very important factors and I am surprised it hasn't been reported widely.
He also commented that communication (English skills) is often a problem with the Asian airlines, so much so that ATC routinely doubles the minimum spacing when there is an Asian plan in the landing sequence. There is a cultural issue where a junior pilot never questions the authority, judgment, or actions of the senior pilot. Again, I don't know if that was a factor, but it might have been.
Perhaps there are some pilots who could shed some light on this.
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