The Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA) yesterday fought back against the stream of details being made public in the wake of the crash of Asiana Flight 214, many of which seem to be pointing a finger at the pilot.
The group released a statement saying it was "stunned by the amount of detailed operational data from on-board recorders released by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) this soon into the investigation."
"It is imperative that safety investigators refrain from prematurely releasing the information from on-board recording devices," the group added.
"We have seen in the past that publicizing this data before all of it can be collected and analyzed leads to erroneous conclusions that can actually interfere with the investigative process."
Releasing pieces of the conversation out of context "encourages wild speculation, as we have already seen in the media, about causes of the accident before all the facts are known, before investigators have the ability to determine why the events occurred, and in this case before the flight crew had even been interviewed…and creates the impression that the NTSB has already determined probable cause even before the investigation has started."
The pilots implored that information not be "sensationalized by the media for the purpose of a few headlines."
