Jackie Speier: “On July 6 of this year, Asiana Airlines Flight 214 from Incheon, South Korea, crashed on its final approach to San…”

“On July 6 of this year, Asiana Airlines Flight 214 from Incheon, South Korea, crashed on its final approach to San Francisco International Airport, which is in my district. Initial reports made clear that low airspeed was a crucial factor in that crash. It was a horrible accident. Three Chinese 16-year-old girls on their way to a summer camp in southern California lost their lives. It could have been an absolute catastrophe, because there were over 300 people, including crew, that survived that horrific day. Low airspeed has been a concern for air safety for almost 20 years. In 1996, the FAA's Human Factors Team concluded that flight crews needed better warnings that the aircraft was reaching low airspeeds. In 2003, following the crash that killed our congressional colleague Senator Paul Wellstone, the National Transportation Safety Board recommended the FAA study whether to require installation of low airspeed audible and visual alert systems. Following the Colgan Air crash in Buffalo, New York, a recommendation was reissued in 2010 on installation of redundant audible and visual warnings of impending hazardous low speed conditions. Now, after almost two decades since the initial recommendation and over 3 years since the recommendation after Colgan, the FAA has not addressed this question of whether existing commercial aircraft should be required to install low airspeed warning systems.…”