NTSB to release official findings on Asiana crash

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- The National Transportation Safety Board will issue its official findings Tuesday in the cause of the crash of Asiana Airlines Flight 214 at San Francisco International Airport last year.

Three teenagers were killed and more than 180 people injured when the plane hit a seawall while coming in for a landing.

Deborah Hersman, the former head of the NTSB, spoke to ABC7 News anchor Kristen Sze last week about what to expect from Tuesday's hearing.

"They can issue recommendations to aircraft manufacturers about info that might be in manuals for training the pilots," Hersman explained. "They can issue recommendations specifically to the airline. They can make recommendations to training centers, because a lot of training is contracted out to third parties. And finally, they can make recommendations to the regulator."

But, she explained, they don't like to assign blame.

"They don't like to characterize it as assigning blame because generally you can't blame an accident one a single factor," Hersman said. "It's got to be a system of safety to help protect not just the pilots but also the passengers from events like this from occurring."

ABC7 News reporter Lilian Kim is in Washington for the hearing.

We'll also be streaming it live for you on www.abc7news.com.