Asiana Airlines Responding to Safety Concerns

There have been a few incidents recently that have caused Asiana Airlines to respond to a variety of safety concerns regarding both aircraft and employees. Asiana Airlines is the second largest airline in South Korea with only Korean Air being a slightly larger airline. There was an incident report that was recently released which brought to light a failed landing that was made by an Airbus A321 operated by Asiana Airlines pilots. A recent demand was made by Japanese aviation authorities to have all of the airline’s 737 aircraft inspected, this combined with the report mentioned above have really put Asiana Airlines in the spotlight, and not in a good way.

The failed landing attempt was quite serious in nature and fortunately there were no injuries as a result of this mistake. As the Airbus A321 tried to land it ended up bouncing off the runway and when they decided to abort the attempt the co-pilot abruptly yanked back on the controls to almost the maximum limit which resulted in the tail of the aircraft dragging on the ground. The whole event was a result of the co-pilot’s initial error to raise the nose of the aircraft to the proper orientation and then the overreaction when the attempt was aborted resulted in the damage to the aircraft after the tail made contact with the ground. This was a serious event that could have easily been avoided and was certainly a result of pilot error. This brings to light the issue that some of Asiana Airline’s pilots need additional training which would have helped to prevent this type of incident from ever occurring.

The report also mentions that along with the co-pilot’s errors the pilot should have been aware of what the co-pilot was doing and taken over to avoid the resulting incident. This whole situation should have never occurred and would not happen with most other pilots. This highlights the need for Asiana Airlines to provide their employees with the necessary training that will prepare pilots on how to properly handle similar situations.

Along with the incident mentioned above the other news that Asiana Airlines would have liked to avoid is that Japanese authorities ordered to have all of the airlines Boeing 737-300 models to be thoroughly inspected. This was done in response to the Southwest Airlines incident where a 4 foot section of the 737′s roof flew off and resulted in an emergency landing. The inspections required by aviation officials were intended to find any areas of the frame or skin that show signs of abnormal stress or any cracking. Asiana Airlines does not operate any of the Boeing 737-300 models, similar to the Southwest Airlines aircraft, but they do have several 737 models that are fairly similar.

Due to the similar design and materials, aviation officials thought that it would be best to check the aircraft to avoid a potentially catastrophic situation. Asiana Airlines stated that they didn’t find any problems with the aircraft they had inspected up until now and the aircraft are being put back into service. This recent news will not likely have a huge impact on the company, but it would have been better off without it.