The Verge Attempts to Explain a Plane Crash ⇥ theverge.com

Asiana Flight 214 crash landed at SFO earlier today. Chris Ziegler rightly points out that it was a Boeing 777 and includes a summary of the only other crash landing by a 777:

The cause of the accident is unknown and will likely take some time to investigate, but it’s notable that the 777’s only other major failure — a downed British Airways aircraft at London Heathrow — crashed under similar circumstances on final approach, resulting from a clogged fuel filter that has since been redesigned and retrofitted on existing aircraft using Rolls Royce’s Trent 800 series engines.

He then includes this teaser line:

It’s not immediately clear what type of engine Asiana is using on its 777 fleet.

I don’t understand why that was in there. This is unlikely to have any relationship with the fuel/oil heat exchanger, as publications report that the tail came off moments before the plane was to hit the tarmac. Why use a plane crash as click bait?

The fact that plane crashes are becoming increasingly rare despite a sharp increase in the number of flights annually is a testament to the incredible safety of aircraft. This crash had no fatalities because of some great work by the pilots and flight staff.

Update: KTVU now reports that two people were killed in the crash, and 61 were injured. Awful news.