US air accident investigators hold a hearing on Wednesday into the role that sophisticated cockpit automation might have played in the fiery crash of a South Korean airliner in San Francisco.
Three passengers, all young Chinese women, died when Asiana Airlines Flight 214 clipped a seawall, skidded out of control and burst into flames upon landing after an otherwise routine flight from Seoul on July 6.
One of the victims was fatally hit by a fire engine as she lay stricken near the runway.
Another 182 passengers and crew aboard the Boeing 777 were injured - and first indications suggested the pilots approached the runway at well below the optimum speed for landing.
Wednesday’s nearly 12-hour hearing was supposed to be a two-day affair, but its scheduled start on Tuesday was postponed due to a federal government shutdown prompted by wintry weather in Washington.
Keith Holloway of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said the hearing will “gather additional factual information” as the federal agency moves closer to a final report on the first fatal accident involving a Boeing 777.
