After blaming San Francisco Airport controllers, Boeing, and its own pilots, Asiana Airlines says that malfunctioning software was also a contributing factor in the July 2013 crash that killed three people.
The airline says that the “inconsistences in the aircraft’s automation logic” were partially to blame for the plane accident.
The New York Times reports that it was clear to almost everyone else that the primary cause of the crash was the crew’s failure to notice that the plane was coming in too low and slow at the landing.
Asiana’s complaints about the plane’s automation systems are consistent with a prevalent view that the airline’s pilots were overly reliant on automatic landing controls and uncomfortable landing planes manually.
Naming other factors in the crash will likely do little to shield the airline from legal liability arising out of this accident. As a “common carrier,” an airline is legally responsible for all injuries arising out of its operations.