They say hindsight is 20/20. Three weeks after the accident, SFO decided to start a self-evaluation called "Lessons Learned." The information they gathered has now been shared with 44 airports around the nation.
Immediately following the Asiana Airlines crash, the first responders acted quickly. SFO's internal report found airfield safety officers along with police and fire staff demonstrated a strong sense of commitment.
Also, it was the airport's ability to reopen the fourth runway just 42-hours after the investigation was done that scored the highest marks.
"Moving that wreckage, remediating all the spilled jet fuel, repainting, repaving, getting the FAA to recertify, it was the integration of so many different agencies and for us it really highlighted how well all these different groups worked together to respond to a crisis," SFO spokesperson Doug Yakel said.
But the report found the triage procedures needed to be reviewed. For example, when identifying the condition of an injured passenger the emergency medical personnel from San Mateo and San Francisco counties were not on the same page.
"And it's as simple as maybe one is using a numerical method, the other is using a letter-based method, and the suggestion came up to develop a common operating language between the two," Yakel said.
Improvements are already being made on that end.
Also, there were reports of price gouging. Now the San Francisco Travel Association is working to come up with a "distressed passenger hotel rate" for those stranded during an emergency.
And SFO is asking airport restaurants to stay open around the clock when these emergency situations arise.
Of course they're not going to do that when flights are delayed, only in real emergencies.
One thing SFO did do was upgrade its website to allow more hits in the event of real emergencies, like the Asiana crash.
Another thing to note is that 850 flights were cancelled after the crash. When asked what that cost the airport, officials said they were still crunching the numbers.
