The pilot at the controls – named by Asiana as Lee Kang-Kuk – was around halfway through his training for the Boeing 777, but had led 29 flights to San Francisco on Boeing 747s in the past, according to the airline.
“To complete initial operating experience for Asiana, he’s required to have 20 flights and 60 flight hours. He had 10 legs – he had completed 10 legs. And about 35 hours flying the 777,” Hersman said on Tuesday.
However, his trainer – who told US investigators he had a total of 13,000 flying hours, 3,000 of which were in the Boeing 777 – had not flown in that role before.
“He reported that this was his first trip as an instructor pilot,” Hersman said.
“The instructor pilot stated that he was the pilot in command. This was the first time that he and the flying pilot that he was instructing had flown together,” she added.
San Francisco General Hospital said on Tuesday that five crash victims remain in critical condition.
The NTSB has said the plane was flying far too slowly before the disastrous landing, which shredded the aircraft’s tail, with the fire eventually leaving the fuselage a burned-out wreck.
South Korean-based Asiana earlier on Tuesday defended the pilots as “very competent,” and the airline’s chief executive, Yoon Young-Doo, is to fly to California to meet transport safety officials and victims in local hospitals.
On Monday, Yoon lashed out at reports that pilot inexperience may have been to blame for the fatal crash, saying the speculation was “intolerable.”
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