The National Transportation Safety Board announced on Friday that the agency is convening a two-day investigative hearing to discuss the ongoing probe into the July crash of Asiana Airlines Flight 214 at San Francisco International.
The hearing will be held Dec. 10 to 11, in Washington, D.C., at NTSB headquarters.
NTSB spokesman Keith Holloway said in a statement that the hearing will focus on pilot awareness in highly automated aircraft, emergency response and cabin safety. The parties participating in the investigative hearing will be announced at a later time.
In addition, the NTSB released the latest updates in the ongoing investigation into the crash, where three teenage girls died and 182 were injured on July 6 at SFO.
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Nothing conclusive has been released, but investigators have traveled overseas and interviewed many key players. Here is what they have done so far:
- The investigator-in-charge and investigators from the Operations and Human Performance Group traveled to Korea and met with officials from Asiana Airlines. While there, investigators conducted numerous interviews with Asiana management and training personnel, observed Asiana procedures in a simulator and an exemplar aircraft, and gathered further documentation on airline training and policies.
- NTSB investigators from the maintenance group also traveled to Korea and reviewed the records for the accident airplane, including the maintenance that had been performed on the evacuation slides.
- The "Survival Factors Group" conducted an examination of the evacuation slide/raft systems at the manufacturer's facility in New Jersey and is planning future testing of the systems. The group also re-examined the wreckage to gather additional information about the fire propagation and structural damage. Following that examination, the wreckage was sectioned and moved to a secure storage facility.
- Investigators and party members met in Seattle to examine the recorded flight data and compare it to the expected airplane systems operation. The "Systems Group" is currently developing a test plan for the mode control panel and the "Vehicle Performance Group" is finalizing the event simulation match.
