Hailstorm

the pilot warned passengers to sit down and buckle up.......

"The plane was dropping vertically then 'slamming' into something," said Walker, who used to hold a private pilot's license. "This happened about seven times. The few unbuckled (passengers) initially flew up to hit the overhead bins.

And learned a valuable lesson regarding paying attention and listening to the pilot and cabin crew.

They must not have been watching their radar to prevent this scrapping of the airframe and engines. Autopilot engaged and they were sleeping. Seems to be a NWA SOP.

The aircraft would have flown above the turbulence if it was in mid flight. My guess is the flight was making a descent to prepare for a landing. I had a similar experience but not as severe with a flight descending to Toronto back in about 1974. Never forgot that flight. it descended into very dark, wild lightening, extreme turbulence, noisy environment, but not a sound from any of the passengers. I could smell the puke around me and was very happy to break below these dangerous clouds. The aircraft was a DC9 and survived to fly again.

In 1974 you didn't have a CRT/LCD display system with a color RADAR system installed.

This AC had that, as evident by the damage to the radome fiberglass. And this severity of this storm would have been evident on the display. He/she, should have flown around the storm.

Retired Collins Radio (RCI) avionics engr.

If you read the entire article, the pilot claimed that the Chinese air traffic control refused permission to deviate from their flight path in order to avoid the storm.

you're actually pointing out something that has bothered me on multiple occasions. I take the time to read and scan through large amounts of data almost daily and post things I think are of interest to other intellectuals. It almost seems rare for someone to read anything in it's entirety. I think most people need a very quick burst of information or they lose interest within a few sentences

The link provided by Fredski was all I read. I read this again, I didn't see any comment on air traffic control.

I checked the FAA ASIAS site, and this incident has not been recorded yet (http://www.asias.faa.gov/pls/apex/f?p=100:93:0::NO:::)

The pilot has the duty to override air traffic control as safety is their final say. And that is absolute world wide.

The article said 2.5 hours from landing. So they could have deviated the flight path.

Now my guess is, this was an Asian crew, and their culture is to not overrule authority. But that's an assumption on my part. As the AC's nickname was "Spirit of Beijing".

I quote from the article Afterward, the captain told passengers he was unable to get permission from Chinese air traffic controllers to fly around the weather, Walker said.

I quote from the article Afterward, the captain told passengers he was unable to get permission from Chinese air traffic controllers to fly around the weather, Walker said.

Does that mean that air traffic control denied his request? Or, he could not reach them? Or, he asked, but they did not give him a decision?

The pilot, if properly trained would declare an emergency, and override air traffic control.

It is the pilots job to protect the safety of all passengers. Air traffic control is only keeping the planes separation from other traffic.

These aircraft are all equipped with TCAS (traffic collision avoidance system). So if a 'target' is detected, it gives instructions to dive or climb to avoid a collision. And the pilot does not ask permission to follow it's guidance.

I still believe this to be a culture problem of Asian nature. Non confrontational following of orders.

The good thing is there were no fatalities. Just a scrapped AC.

it was preventable

Yes, and the ONLY reason for weather RADAR is to circumnavigate bad weather. It can't see any targets, as it's tuned for water droplets. The pilots saw extreme precipitation on their RADAR, and screwed up, not overriding air traffic control. So what good was this system, as it was not used as intended. Maybe there is too much fear of China.

Interesting read about accident summary for Asiana Airlines Flight 214.

report

They don't make any statements directly about Asian culture in this report.

I don't know about this commentary to accuracy, not the same issue of ground control communications.

cockpit-communication-and-plane-crashes

Interesting...looks like the nose gets the brunt of the damage.

Be grateful the undercarriage was tucked away, then!