LEILA FADEL, HOST:
To help us understand more about what investigators will look for in Miami, we're joined by Mary Schiavo. She's a former inspector general at the Department of Transportation, and she joins me now. Good morning.
MARY SCHIAVO: Hello.
FADEL: Hi. It's still early in this crash and what we know. But what stands out most to you when you look at video of this crash?
SCHIAVO: Well, what stands out to me is the video that has surfaced of the landing approach - of the approach and then the actual touchdown. Or rather, the failure to touch down at the end of the runway. And, you know, understandably, this aircraft had come through some weather. There was really ominous-looking weather, as you see this video, off the end of the runway. But we also - when you look at radar that's publicly available about the airspeed and the rate of descent, it was coming in fast. It was descending rather quickly. It was not what's called a stabilized approach. In other words, you're on the right glide slope. You've got the right speeds coming in. You're making the right rate of descent.
And also the PAPI lights - their precision approach lights - were out on this runway. So if - and there was a Notice to Airmen - a NOTAM - out about this. So they should have known they wouldn't have them. But it really looks like they were in quite a hurry to get to the runway. They probably should have done what's called a go-around, in other words, since they weren't stabilized and really lined up well to make a good landing right at the end of the runway. And you can see that in the video. You're supposed to touch the back wheels first, let the plane settle onto the runway. That breaks the airflow and slows the plane down - the airflow over the wings - and let the nose settle.
We see, you know, several hundred feet, maybe even, you know, 1,000 feet or 2,000 feet down the runway, they still hadn't gotten both back wheels on the ground and settled the nose. And there was just no way to dissipate this speed. Also, a 767 should be landing at about 135, 140 knots.
FADEL: Yeah.
SCHIAVO: It appeared to be faster than that, maybe at some point as high as 170, 180 knots. And then when it went off the other end of the runway, it was reported that it was going 130 miles an hour. So clearly, it hadn't dissipated the speed.
So the NTSB is going to focus on the pilot handling. And of course, it's possible there were some mechanical problems. I didn't see in that video that the spoilers - things that help the plane slow down - they're supposed to be set before you touch down. And then when you finally touch down, they're automatic. Maybe they had problems with the thrust reversers. There's a lot of things to look at. But I think they'll focus on that landing sequence, how they were coming in and descending and then, again, the issue that there were no arrestor beds at the end of the runways at this airport in a very populated area.
FADEL: How common is a crash like this where the plane overshoots the runway during its landing and leaves the airport perimeter?
SCHIAVO: Well, when you have a runway accident, an overshoot is probably one of the more commons other than - there's a big problem now in the United States with runway incursions, where taxiways, runways, aircraft crossing the runways, other vehicles. But other than that, going off the end of the runway, particularly where there's been some storms - in this case, it appears there was a tailwind, maybe perhaps as much as 26 knots, 30 miles an hour. And then, hey, you know, they had almost 9,000 feet of runway, almost. I think it's about 8,400, 8,500 feet long. And for them to have an overshoot there, that's quite a bit of speed. But the - you know, those are some of the additional things that they'll look at.
FADEL: Now, you have been quoted saying that it is a concern or a red flag that the plane had foreign owners - Russian operators...
SCHIAVO: Yes.
FADEL: ...At one point. Why?
SCHIAVO: Yes. Well, when I was inspector general, one of the things that we looked at was international provisioning and things like that. And whenever a plane has had foreign ownership, especially Russian ownership, you have to look at the maintenance track record, the parts track record. Really, what is the history of the plane? But, you know, the black boxes will reveal all of that. If there was a mechanical problem, those black boxes, although they might be very, very old - they will have the key parameters, as will the cockpit voice recorder.
FADEL: Mary Schiavo is a former inspector general for the Department of Transportation. Thank you for joining us.
SCHIAVO: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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