South Korean and U.S. investigators are apparently concentrating efforts on determining whether pilot error caused the deadly crash-landing of Asiana Airlines Flight 214.
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), along with the South Korean government's investigative team, prepared Monday to interview the four pilots of the passenger jet that hit a seawall on the edge of a runway at the San Francisco International Airport on Saturday.
Two Chinese teenage girls were killed and more than 180 others were injured.
NTSB chief Deborah Hersman said part of the tail section of the jet was found in the waters near the airport.
She added her agency will soon conduct the interviews, after which more details are expected to be available.
"It's important to wait for our Korean counterparts" to have the interviews, she said at a press conference, referring to a six-member South Korean investigative team.
Pilot interviews and analysis of the so-called black box from the doomed plane are seen as the key to getting to know the exact cause of the accident.
Skies were relatively clear with no strong winds near the airport, according to airport authorities. The NTSB also said there was no distress call regarding engine or other plane system problems.
Attention is being paid to the possibility of pilot error.
Lee Gang-guk, who was at the controls of the Boeing 777, had close to 10,000 hours of flight experience but only 43 hours in the Boeing 777.
Another pilot had around 12,390 hours, including 3,220 hours in the 777. Two other pilots were aboard for shifts at the controls of the jet, which originated from Shanghai, China, and stopped over at Incheon International Airport west of Seoul.
But Asiana, South Korea's second-largest airliner, dismissed early speculation that pilot error led to the accident.
"A senior pilot was in charge of the flight," Yoon Young-doo, president and CEO of the firm, said at a press briefing in Seoul. "So I cannot tolerate the speculation. I would appreciate if you understand that it is not true."
The NTSB chairwoman noted different levels of experience among pilots.
"Certainly in different aircraft types, we will see different experiences," Hersman told NBC's "Today." "Pilots will move from aircraft type to aircraft type, and you have to acquire experience and time."
Based on a preliminary analysis of the flight data and cockpit voice recorders, she said Sunday the plane was flying far slower than the target speed of 135 knots (155 mph), or 254 kilometers per hour, as it approached the runway.
According to flight logs released by Flightaware.com, an independent flight data tracking site, Flight 214 was flying at an airspeed of only 85 knots (98 mph) shortly before it crash-landed.
Meanwhile, U.S. officials said one of the two Chinese victims might have been run over by an emergency vehicle deployed to the scene of the crash.
"There was a possibility one of two fatalities might have been contacted by one of our apparatus at one point during the incident," said Dale Carnes, assistant deputy chief of the San Francisco fire department.
The NTSB head said later the possibility is still under investigation and it's premature to reach any conclusions. (Yonhap)