The Boeing 777 that crashed while trying to land at San Francisco International Airport on Saturday is a workhorse of the airline industry that has enjoyed a stellar reputation among pilots for safety.
"It could very easily have the safest record for that size of aircraft," said Robert Herbst, a retired American Airlines 767 pilot and aviation industry consultant in South Carolina.
The Boeing 777 was pressed into service in 1995 and had not been involved in a fatal crash until the incident Saturday, according to AirSafe.com, which tracks crashes and airline industry safety.
The last serious incident involving a 777 occurred on Jan. 17, 2008, when a British Airways 777 arriving from Beijing touched down about 1,000 feet short of a runway at London's Heathrow Airport, skidded more than 1,000 feet and sheared off its landing gear, according to AirSafe.com.
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