NTSB chair talks with CNN’s Wolf Blitzer about preliminary findings from Asiana’s voice recorder
National Transportation Safety Board chair Deborah Hersman spoke with CNN’s Wolf Blitzer today about the preliminary findings from the voice recorder from the Asiana Airlines crash in San Francisco. A full transcript of the program will be posted on http://archives.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS.
Please Credit – CNN’s The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer
Highlight from Full Interview
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BLITZER: Any preliminary results you want to release right now?
HERSMAN: Sure. We have provided some preliminary information from the cockpit voice recorder. And, you know, I think what’s really important to note is that seven seconds out there was a recognition between the two crew members in a conversation that the aircraft was slow. Four seconds prior to impact, they actually had a stick shaker activation.
This is a big deal. This is telling the pilots that the airplane is about to stall if something doesn’t change. And so they get an oral and they also get a cue through the yoke of the aircraft, a vibration that the airplane is close to stall. And then about 1.5 seconds before impact, there was a call between the crew to go around.
And a go-around is an aborted landing, apply thrust and go around and make another pass, try to land again. That was just 1.5 seconds before impact and, at that point, it was too late.
BLITZER: Too late, indeed, a tragic moment, way too late at that point. Deborah Hersman of the national transportation safety board, if we could check back with you tomorrow, get some more information, that would be great. Thanks very much and good luck with the investigation.
###