It has been nearly a year since the fatal crash of Asiana Airlines Flight 214 at San Francisco Airport, now federal investigators in the United States if America will determine on Tuesday what caused the accident and make recommendations to avoid another.
The National Transportation Safety Board will release its report on the results of its investigation into the July 6, 2013, crash that killed three people and injured more than 200.
Investigators have already said the Boeing 777-200ER was flying lower and slower than intended when it slammed into the seawall at the end of the runway, spun around and burst into flames.
The board will vote on probable causes of the crash and then make non-binding recommendations, which are keenly awaited in the industry because of the expertise of the board and its staffers.
"We really look forward to seeing that report. We work not in the 'what happened,' but 'why it happened,'" said Michael Barr, who teaches aviation safety at the University of Southern California and has a commercial pilot's certificate. "The why is what's going to prevent the next accident."
The Asiana flight from Seoul was traveling about 119 mph, despite a goal of 158 mph, when it hit the seawall on a sunny morning. The airline acknowledged in documents filed in March that a "probable cause" of the accident was the pilots flying too slow.
Asiana said the pilots had plenty of experience, but the crash raised questions about whether pilots need more training to monitor sophisticated technology aboard planes.
At a December NTSB hearing, investigators said the flying pilot, Lee Kang Kuk, was landing for the first time at San Francisco and he had spent just 43 hours flying the 777, although he had clocked 9,684 hours on a variety of other jets. Another pilot serving as an instructor on the flight, Lee Jung Min, had spent 3,208 hours flying 777s out of 12,307 total flying hours.
Barr said the NTSB's conclusions are respected because they serve as a moderator in determining what went wrong, while an airline and manufacturer strongly assert their own positions.
"The NTSB has no dog in that fight," Barr said. "They will come down as close as they can to what can be proven."
Other key elements include survivability of the crash. Testimony at an NTSB hearing in December said the plane largely held together, despite coming down harder than certified to land, and seats remained intact until fire swept through the cabin.
But two of the evacuation slides made by Air Cruiser opened inside the cabin, pinning a flight attendant temporarily. The company was going to further test the equipment.
A firetruck ran over one of the three people who died as a result of the crash, 16-year-old Ye Meng Yuan, when she was covered in firefighting foam on the ground. Fire officials said the priority was to save hundreds of people inside the plane.