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Instrument approach to guide them, but he felt pressure to do it, because other pilots were. >> as we apply it as a tool to aid the pilot, not replace the pilot. >> reporter: investigators questioned if the pilots were too reliant on technology. the pilot flying thought the autothrottle was engaged, but it wasn't, dramatically slowing the plane. >> are there certain phases of flight where airspeed is going to be a do-or-die situation? >> absolutely. we we design the airport, we assume that airports are very good at monitoring when it's a critical phase of flight. >> reporter: crash survivor be...

Speed. it also suggests a few things chblg the pilots didn't recognize the auto throttle was disengaged. they weren't cross checking their equipment. or again, they fully didn't understand how to operate this automated system on the triple 7. all of those scary possibilities when you consider this plane had passengers on board. >> and that we all get on planes and assume that the systems are perfect. i want to move on now. because if that pilot or that plane crash because of bite error, what does it mean for the investigation of this entire incident? perhaps the person best to speak to this ...

Transcript, he said, he's not so confident. he felt that he should study more. again, that coming from the pilot who was at the controls saying he wasn't very confident with the automated systems inside that plane. ntsb investigators are concerned about pilots overreliance on automated systems in the cockpit. specifically when it comes to the plane's auto throttle. it's the equivalent of cruise control in a car, and the pilot thought that the auto throttle was engaged, but it turned out it was not. that us caed the plane to fall to a dangerously slow speed. it suggests a few things. the pilot ...

To send to the engine and in turn that sets the plane's speed. just think of cruise control in a vehicle. now the ntsb says in this particular case, asiana's pilots thought that the auto throttle was engaged but it wasn't so the air speed fell too slow below the target speed. this just suggests possibly they were flying a plane. they didn't totally understand how things were working there as far as the automatic controls within the cockpit that, of course, is problematic. we also learned the first officer warned more than four times about an excessive sink rate and lastly we now know investiga...

Officer told investigators that just 52 seconds before the crash, he warned the crew that the plane was descending too fast. pilots who have flown 777s told me 52 seconds is more than enough time to correct the problem, but for some reason, the problem was not corrected. also, based on investigator interviews, we now know the pilot flying the plane was uncomfortable with the landing he was about to make, saying visual approaches are, quote, difficult and stressful. and when he was asked how confident he was with the 777's automated systems, he said not so confident and he felt he should study ...