First, let's take a look at the actions of the pilots involved. Although there were four pilots aboard the aircraft, only two pilots were at the controls while the other two were relief pilots for the long flight. For pilot Lee Hang-Kook, it was his first time landing a Boeing 777. This, combined with the airport's automated landing system not working, created a scenario where the pilots were forced to visually guide the airplane in an effort to safely land this massive jetliner.
In addition, the plane was also flying too low and slow to the point where the pilots should have aborted the flight and a "go around" should have been taken for another attempt. Instead, the pilots not only failed to abort the landing but also failed to communicate their predicament until ~1.5 seconds prior to striking a sea wall and slamming into the runway.
So what can we learn from this? To me, the top 3 things businesses could learn from this are the following:
- Incorporating adequate training programs.
- Requiring effective communication from employees.
- Updating Procedures and Testing Requirements.
Every business must ensure that adequate training programs are incorporated that not only fosters effective communication but also an environment where work procedures and testing requirements are continually updated by employees based on lessons learned, especially when lives are at stake. Doing so would increase the likelihood that employees continue to work safely producing high-quality work for all stakeholders involved. Unfortunately, this was not the case with this recent tragedy, hence why I felt that several parties were at fault. Let me explain.
First, Lee Hang-Kook should not have been allowed land a massive jetliner like the Boeing 777 for the first time when passengers are aboard, especially when the more experienced co-pilot next to him lacked effective communication skills. This concept is similar to how people obtain their driver's license. When taking the driver's license test for the first time, it's only you and the instructor in the car going through several obstacles to ensure that you're ready to drive on public roads. The car is not filled with passengers and if you're guilty of driving incorrectly per the Department of Transportation guidelines, then your instructor is obligated to communicate and inform you of what you're doing wrong in an effort to correct the situation. If you're guilty of enough wrongdoings, you'll fail your driver's test and not be allowed to legally drive on public roads unless you retake the test at a future time and pass.
In gist, people have to first prove that they're capable of driving a vehicle prior to being allowed to carry passengers and drive on public roads. So if the requirements for obtaining a driver's license is this strict, shouldn't the requirements for flying an airplane be more strict, especially when many more lives are at stake? Maybe it's time that airlines require all pilots to pass a series of flying, landing, and communication tests with each type of aircraft prior to being allowed to legally fly that particular aircraft with actual passengers aboard. By incorporating more stringent training and testing requirements for pilots, airlines would not only increase pilot capabilities but also improve on safety, effective communications, etc.
Please note that although the pilots failed to effectively communicate with one another about the plane's dangerous situation until it was too late, I also felt that San Francisco International Airport was also at fault. Not only because the airport failed to warn the pilots of Asiana Airlines Flight 214 that they were flying too low and slow for landing but also because the airport failed to properly test their automated landing system, thus making it much more difficult to land the plane because the automated landing system was not functional at the time of landing.
Overall, a myriad of unfortunate events led to the tragic crash of Asiana Flight 214. Hopefully businesses take the lessons learned and continually work on improving training programs, communications, and updating procedures and testing requirements in an effort to prevent this tragedy from reoccurring.
Once again, to all those affected, my heart and prayers go out to you, your family, and friends.
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