San Francisco, Jul 10 : As the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) continued to investigate Saturday's deadly jetliner crash at San Francisco International Airport, survivor Ben Levy recounted his experience, and described how he and other passengers got out of the plane.
Levy told AP Television it was quiet in the plane moments after the crash.
He said, "I felt I had broken ribs. I had a lot of blood on me. But realised that it wasn't actually from me, it was from my neighbour which was hit really bad on the head."
Levy said that he just opened his seatbelt, "stood up and went for the door. I went to open that big handle, metallic handle to open the door. And I didn't know what to expect or how it would be. I think the adrenaline in my body it was with all my strengthening but it felt really easy, actually."
He described how the passengers did not rush out but tried to be "orderly".
Most of the 307 people on board had exited the crippled craft before firefighters arrived, but four passengers were still trapped in the back.
One of the most puzzling aspects of the crash has been why the wide-body Boeing 777 jet came in far too low and slow, clipping its landing gear and then its tail on a rocky seawall just short the runway.
The crash killed two of the 307 people and injured scores of others, most not seriously.
"The fact that that plane landed on its belly, stayed on its belly and didn't rip itself apart in pieces before stopping is, you know, that is definitely a key element of why so many people today are alive," Levy felt.
Airport video surveillance footage reviewed by federal accident investigators proved inconclusive, NTSB Chairwoman Deborah Hersman said.
Hersman said the "autothrottle" was set for 157 miles per hour (253 kilometres per hour) and the pilots assumed it was controlling the plane's airspeed.
However, the autothrottle was only "armed" or ready for activation, she said.
Hersman said the pilot at the controls, identified by Korean authorities as Lee Gang-guk, was only about halfway through his training on the Boeing 777 and was landing that type of aircraft at the San Francisco airport for the first time ever.
And the co-pilot, identified as Lee Jeong-Min, was on his first trip as a flight instructor.
Levy said, "I've never been scared of flying. I don't know if it will change, I feel like today, my feeling is that I will get in a plane and fly again."
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