Bay Area news outlet KTVU made an epic blunder when it reported the names of the pilots of Asiana flight 214 that made a crash landing at San Francisco International Airport on Saturday, leaving two dead and 168 people injured. The mistake was so bad and embarrassing, it really makes you wonder how nobody figured out they were being pranked.
A KTVU anchor reported the names of the pilots for Asiana flight 214 as:
– Sum Ting Wong
– Wi Tu Lo
– Ho Lee Fuk
– Bang Ding Ow
It’s bad enough that the names just sounded awful and fake when the anchor read them, but then she added that the NTSB has confirmed these were the pilots when it crashed. Seriously. That information supposedly was confirmed by the NTSB.
[Related: NTSB blames intern for KTVU flight 214 pilot confirmation]
From what we understand, Lee Gang Guk and Lee Jeong Min were the actual pilots of the flight. One of the pilots told investigators he was blinded by a light about 500 feet above the ground, leading to the crash.
The crash certainly is no laughing matter, but we cannot understand how the TV station screwed up their report that badly.
KTVU later apologized for the mistake, which was made during a noon newscast on Friday.
“We sincerely regret the error and took immediate action to apologize, both in the newscast where the mistake occurred, as well as on our website and social media sites,” said Tom Raponi, KTVU/KICU Vice President & General Manager. “Nothing is more important to us than having the highest level of accuracy and integrity, and we are reviewing our procedures to ensure this type of error does not happen again.”
