The sequence of events detailed by National Transportation Safety Board investigators likely cost the pilots hundreds of feet of runway length and crucial seconds in the moments before the plane ran off the runway, striking two vehicles as it exited the airport grounds and crossed a public road, killing five before coming to a stop, according to aviation experts who reviewed the timeline.
“You either land or you go around. You don’t land, attempt to go around, and then get back to landing again, unless there was some mechanical malfunction,” said Steven Arroyo, an aviation expert and retired United Airlines pilot.
“I have never seen anything like this,” he added of the information that N.T.S.B. investigators detailed Tuesday night.
During a news conference late Tuesday night, Chihoon Shin, the lead crash investigator, laid out a timeline of what happened during the last 30 seconds captured by the flight data recorder. Flight data recorders are designed to stop operating when the airplane’s electric power supply is cut off, as would happen during a crash.