Page 24 - Tail Section News Today

Flames in the planes tail section kept officials from accessing the recorders in the first 24 hours after the crash. investigators want to know why the crew did not issue a distress call. the airbuss went down just about half a mile from the runway while approaching the airport. witnesses say it flew low over their neighborhood then it sounded like it was sputtering before it crashed on the street by an open field shaking peoples homes there. and as we mentioned earlier, big drops on wall street...

Shortly. u.p.s. flight 1354 was flying flying from louisville kentucky just short of the runway in birmingham, alabama. it struck some trees and slammed into the ground. the fuselage came to rest about 200 yards beyond the initial point of impact. the wings and tail section moved an additional 75 to 80 yards beyond that and suffered the heaviest damage. u.p.s. is not releasing the names of the two pilots until confirmed by the coroner. company officials asking for patience and prayers as the inv...

Remnants of a charred flight 214 after it slammed into the seawall. the debris, giant rocks, pieces of the tail section and the landing gear littering the runway and now we have the fullest picture yet of the flights final moments. around 50 seconds out the first officer sitting in the jump seat comments about the sink rate, thats the speed at which the plane is descending. at about 35 seconds out and 500 feet up the pilot told investigators he saw a bright light and in response looked at the co...

Passengers ran from the burning jet some called 911. were hearing their pleas. >> she is severely burned. she will probably die soon if we dont get help. >> we are working on getting additional ambulances to you. >> reporter: for some frustration. >> weve been on the ground, i dont know. 20 minutes a half-hour. were almost losing a woman here. were trying to keep her alive. >> reporter: san francisco fire officials say within 18 minutes, 17 rescue vehicles and ambulances were on the scene or on ...

Like the autothrottles. >> reporter: but there is a speed indicator in the plane. and they would also have seen bright red and white lights like these on the simulation flight theyre calls precision path indicators or poppy lights. if i see all red, it means im too low. if i see all white, it means im too high. >> at 200 feet, he noticed the four poppies were red. >> reporter: the impact so violent ntsb investigators say two flight attendants were ejected from the plane after the tail section br...

The flight crew federal investigators say the pilots were more concerned with their low approach than their dangerously low air speed. they were relying on the planes cruise control to maintain the speed. did that auto throttle malfunction? >> there were three pilots in the cockpit during the landing. and the lead instructor was overseeing the landing. five days later the planes wreckage is still scattered along the runway. a large piece of the tail section wound up in san francisco bay. >> when...

Lanned at san francisco international airport and tonight, lots of questions about whether pilot error is to blame. officials with asiana airlines say while the pilot at the controls had thousands of hours experience flying other planes, he only had 43 hours on the boeing 777 and never landed one in san francisco before. saturdays landing was to be part of his training. investigators say they found part of the planes tail section in the san francisco bay and the jet tagged debris hundreds of fee...

Cockpit, who was training him, at ever flown in that capacity. investigators well be working with the head of asiana airlines who just just arrived, and theyre working with korean translators to learn more about the pilots beyond just their actions prior to landing. >> were going to get a lot more details about their activities, about their work, about their training, about who was the pilot flying, who was the pilot in command, in the cockpit at the time of the accident. we were going to be loo...

What did you see? >> we had -- initially me and another officer, derek lee, we were at the chutes and the pilots and crew were asking for knifes. people were stuck. we gave our knifes and when they said the plane was cleared, came back down, and ran around the tail section after we helped some people get away from the plane, i saw people on the ground and it looked like there were still people on the back of the plane and tail was missing from the back of the plane and that part of the plane you...

>> youre filming the whole thing. >> oh, lord have mercy. >> that is video that you will only see on cnn, and its the only video of the planes impact that we are aware of. fred hayes talked to cnn just a short time ago. >> i was watching it come in, and i did notice that nose being up in the air and, you know, my initial reaction was that it was trying to avert the landing and trying to go back up, and then we heard -- you know, i seen the tail section hit the -- what i thought was the tarmac. i...