most experienced of the airlines. it s a seniority based system that allows them to fly the larger planes. the plane depending on whether it s a two or three class configuration can carry 300 to 400 people. we did see pictures tweeted out of people coming off the aircraft, coming down the slides. if you look at the video and pictures, the slides, at least on the forward two doors on the lefthand side were deployed meaning people got down on that side. typically, they don t deploy them, depending on what s going on around them. they are trying to assess what they see. if there s flames on a side or at some point down the fuselage, they won t open it. it s a twin aisle aircraft meaning there s exits on both sides, two sets of aisles for people to get down. a rare kind of accident. it continued to burn for some
runway into that grassy area between the runways. it was landing, again, on a flight from seoul. number of passengers on board, unknown. again, that last video we saw pictures, we saw people leaving the aircraft, leaving the wreckage scene and coming down the slides that deployed on at least the first two doors of the front section of the airplane. a look a moment ago from flight aware seems to indicate the airport remains closed in san francisco. we ll cover this story throughout the day and bring updates as warranted. for now, i m lester holt. nbc news, new york. okay, we ll pick things up from there. again, this boeing 777, as you can see there, sitting between the runways at san francisco international airport. captain john cox joins me now via telephone, 25 year veteran of u.s. airways.
landing on runway 28. that s when the plane crash occurred. again, the fire coming from the right side. other pictures we have seen seem to indicate severe wing damage on that side. the tail of the aircraft is also off. here s some still pictures we received a few minutes ago. passengers getting off the airplane. the fire continues to burn for some time. the good news, good to see people coming off the airplane. we want to go to tom castillo in washington. he s been in touch with the faa. tom, what are you hearing? caller: what we know is this was a 777. coming in from south korea. that would be from seoul at the airport there. at the end of a very long flight, lester, that would mean probably not a lot of fuel on board, which could be of assistance in an emergency like this. we don t yet know the number of people on board. as you said, it can carry, depending on the configuration, more than 400 passengers or carry in the 300s. you and i have both done reports
in summertime when you get the fog they have to slow things down. only one plane at a time can land. a day like this, this was the weather at the time of the accident. they would have simultaneous visual arrivals, meaning planes can land side by side. the pilot announces hey, if you look over on the left, you will see an american 757. don t be alarmed. he sees us, we see him. the runways are close together. there s no indication this is a result involving other aircraft or air traffic control anomaly. this appears to be a hard landing. that can mean anything from coming in too fast. the thing is on the modern airliners and yes, i m a bit of an airplane geek and co-incidentally enough, i was, this morning at home on my computer making approaches on a 777 at san francisco airport. i know it s unbelievable and i