Asiana Flight 214 Pilots Will Not Be Tested for Drugs or Alcohol

Deborah Hersman, chairwoman of the National Transportation Safety Board, said federal regulations require drug and alcohol testing of critical crewmembers after an accident but that those regulations do not cover foreign licensed pilots

The pilots who were flying Asiana Airlines flight 214 were foreign nationals and therefore, were not tested following the crash. “We made inquiries after our arrival on the scene,” Hersman said. “None of the crewmembers of Asiana Flight 214 were tested for drugs and alcohol post-crash.”

Hersham made the remarks at an NTSB briefing. She said investigators have interviewed three of the cockpit crew members and a fourth crew member, who was in the cabin at the time of the incident, was not interviewed.

We also learned today that two flight attendants working in the back of the plane were ejected but survived. Both female crew members were found on the runway.

One of the cockpit crew, a first officer, was hospitalized and treated for cracked ribs, the two others were not hospitalized, she said.

The pilot was halfway through his certification to fly the Boeing 777 but was highly experienced with flying other jets and had been captain of an Airbus A320 most recently, Hershman said.  The instructor pilot reported that “this was his first trip as an instructor pilot,” she said. “The instructor pilot stated that he was the pilot in command, and he was seated in the right seat,” she said.

NTSB investigators on Tuesday interviewed the pilot, Lee Gang-guk. While he’d had nearly 10,000 hours of flying time on a variety of other jets including a 747, he only had 43 hours flying time on the Boeing 777 and was still in training.

So the question being asked following the disaster, should foreign pilots be subject to US laws when they crash land in the US and there is death and serious injury involved.  What do you think?