Asiana crash in San Francisco mars record of Boeing 777
Saturday's crash was the first fatal accident involving a Boeing 777, a family of twin-engined long-haul aircraft that has been in service for the past 18 years. With more than five million flights, according to Boeing, it remains one of the industry's solid workhorses.
The crash of a South Korean airliner in San Francisco that killed two people dampens the safety record of one of the world's safest aircraft.
Saturday's crash was the first fatal accident involving a Boeing 777, a family of twin-engined long-haul aircraft that has been in service for the past 18 years. With more than five million flights, according to Boeing, it remains one of the industry's solid workhorses.
It would also be the third fatal accident involving one of Asia's fastest growing full-service airlines, which first began operations in 1988 as a rival to South Korea's flag carrier, Korean Air Lines.
There was no immediate clue on the possible cause of the crash. The US National Transportation Safety Board said it was sending a team to start examining the wreckage.
The aircraft that crashed on Saturday was seven years old, having left the Boeing factory in 2006. It is a 777-200ER, a version of Boeing's "mini-jumbo" 777 family capable of transporting 301 passengers in standard cabin layouts up to 14,300 kilometres.
In January 2008, all passengers and crew survived when a similar British Airways 777-200ER crash-landed metres short of the runway at London's Heathrow Airport.
A two-year investigation blamed the crash on a fuel blockage caused by the release of ice that had built up during the long flight from Beijing. The discovery led to changes in the design of the British Rolls-Royce engines used on some 777s.