Lee Gang-guk, the pilot at the controls of an Asiana plane leaving from Seoul, South Korea which crash landed in San Francisco on Saturday, was reportedly getting on-the-job training, the carrier's CEO revealed Monday, as reported by the Associated Press. CEO Yoon Young-Doo told reporters Lee Gang-Guk "was undergoing an OJT (on-the-job training) flight in order to gain experience in order to fly a new type of airplane. For this OJT flight, an experienced pilot with more than 10,000 hours of flight experience was on-board as an instructing pilot, and took all responsibility regarding flight."
Aviation and airline officials said on Sunday that Lee was guiding the Boeing 777 into the San Francisco airport for the first time, and tried by failed to abort the landing after coming in too slowly to set down safely.
Officials are still investigating whether the plane's equipment could have malfunctioned, the AP reported. South Korea's government also announced on Monday that their officials will inspect engines and landing equipment on all Boeing 777 planes owned by Asiana and Korean Air.
A new investigation in the crash also included whether one of the two teenage passengers killed on Saturday actually survived the crash, but was later run over by a rescue vehicle, which came to aid victims fleeing the burning aircraft. 305 of 307 passengers survived the crash, and more than a third did not require hospitalization. A small number were critically injured.
The aircraft reportedly was flying too slowly just before its tail apparently clipped a seawall at the end of the runway, and the nose slammed down, the AP also report. The flight originated in Shanghai, China, stopped over in Seoul, South Korea, before making the nearly 11-hour trip to San Francisco.
There were at least 70 Chinese students and teachers heading to summer camps, according to Chinese authorities., with passengers from all over the world, Chinese authorities said.
"It was shocking, we were so low and it wasn't even the runway yet," passenger Benjamin Levy said. He said he felt the pilot go ""full throttle and put the engine in full speed. That to me said we're too low."
