combination of pilot confusion about thrust settings and their excessive reliance on cockpit computers. cnn's tom foreman is working this story for us. what are you finding out? >> reporter: what it looks like in this situation is that in fact, there was going to be an engagement in this discussion about whether or not these pilots in fact relied too much on these computers to land the plane safely and if they did, why, how do you keep it from happening again. >> oh, my god. >> reporter: two key questions surrounding the asiana aircraft as the jet approached the san francisco airport, why did computers controlling the throttle disengage and why did the pilots fail to notice as the plane's speed plummeted dangerously low. the answers could explain why the jet landed so short of the runway, smashing its tail into a sea wall, cartwheeling, killing three people and injuring almost 200 more. >> i thought that was it. i thought i'm dying. >> reporter: aviation analysts