WASHINGTON — The pilot whose Boeing 777 crashed last summer at the San Francisco airport told investigators he was “very concerned” about attempting a visual approach without the runway’s instrument landing aids, which were out of service because of construction, according to an investigative report released Wednesday.
Lee Kang Kuk, 46, who was landing the big jet for his first time at San Francisco, “stated it was very difficult to perform a visual approach with a heavy airplane.” The jet came in too low and slow and crash-landed, killing three people and injuring more than 200, according to the National Transportation Safety Board.
A visual approach involves lining up the jet for landing by looking through the windshield and using numerous other cues, rather than relying on a radio-based system that guides aircraft to the runway.
The investigative report was released at the start of a day-long NTSB hearing that was called to answer lingering questions about the crash, not to conclude exactly what went wrong.
In his interview, Lee said that although privately he was “very concerned” about his ability to do a visual approach, “everyone else had been doing (it), so he could not say he could not do the visual approach.”
