In this handout photo released by the National Transportation Safety Board, Asiana Airlines Flight 214 sits just off the runway at San Francisco International Airport on Sunday, July 7. The Boeing 777 coming from Seoul, South Korea, crashed on landing on Saturday, July 6. Three passengers, all girls, died as a result of the first notable U.S. air crash in four years. 
A photo showing the damaged interior of the aircraft was released by the NTSB on July 7. The flight carrying 291 passengers and 16 crew took off from Shanghai and stopped in Seoul before heading to San Francisco. 
An investigator photographs part of the landing gear at the crash site in a handout released on July 7. Investigators believe that the pilots were flying too slow and too low as they neared the airport on July 6. 
An investigator inspects the broken-off tail of the plane in a handout photo released July 7. The crash killed two people, injured 182 and forced the temporary closure of one of the country's largest airports. 
An investigator stands near the tail of the plane in a handout photo released on July 7. The NTSB has ruled out weather as a problem and said that conditions were right for a "visual landing." 
Investigators approach the crash in a handout photo released on July 7. 
Fire crews attempt to quench the blaze on Saturday, July 6. 
Smoke rises from the crash site across the San Francisco Bay on July 6. 
Asiana Airlines Flight 214 remains on the runway on July 6. 
A plane sits on the runway on July 6 while emergency crews tend to the crash site. 
A helicopter flies above the wreckage on July 6 as people observe from across the waters of San Francisco Bay. 
Travelers at San Francisco International Airport look at the departures and arrivals board after Asiana Flight 214 crashed on July 6. The airport, located 12 miles south of downtown San Francisco, is California's second busiest, behind Los Angeles International. 
Kevin Cheng talks on his phone as he waits in the terminal after Asiana Airlines Flight 214 crash-landed on July 6. He said he was supposed to pick up students who were on board the flight from Seoul. 
Passengers wait for the British Airways counter to reopen at San Francisco International Airport on July 6. 
Police guard the Reflection Room at the San Francisco airport's international terminal, where passengers from Asiana Airlines Flight 214 were reportedly gathering after the crash landing on July 6. 
People are escorted from the Reflection Room at the San Francisco International Airport on July 6. 
Traffic backs up on U.S. Route 101 South in San Francisco on July 6. The Bay Area airport was closed to incoming and departing traffic after the crash, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. 
People look over the wreckage across a cove in San Francisco Bay on July 6. 
Deborah Hersman, chairwoman of the National Transportation Safety Board, speaks to the press at Reagan National Airport in Arlington, Virginia, before departing for San Francisco with an NTSB crew on July 6 to investigate the crash site. 
The San Francisco Giants observe a moment of silence for those killed and hurt in the crash before their baseball game on July 6 against the Los Angeles Dodgers at AT&T Park in San Francisco. 
Crews comb the end of a San Francisco airport runway following the crash landing on July 6. 
People in Seoul watch a news program reporting about the crash landing on July 6 in San Francisco. Asiana Airlines Flight 214 took off from Seoul earlier Saturday. 
The plane crashed on July 6 around 11:30 a.m. (2:30 p.m. ET). 
People walk past the wreckage of the plane's tail on July 6. 
The burned-out plane remains on the runway on July 6. Passengers and crew members escaped down the emergency inflatable slides. 
Rescue workers tend to the crash site on July 6. 
Debris litters the runway on July 6. 
Airport shuttles arrive on the scene after the crash landing. 
Wreckage from the Boeing 777 lies on the tarmac on July 6. 
Crews surround the remains of the plane on July 6. 
Investigators pass the detached tail and landing gear of Asiana Airlines Flight 214 on July 6. 
An aerial view shows the site of the crash landing between the runways on July 6. 
Smoke rises from the crash site on July 6 at the airport in San Francisco. 
Fire crews work at the crash site at San Francisco International Airport on July 6. 
The Boeing 777 lies burned on the runway after it crashed landed on July 6. 
An aerial photo of the scene on July 6 shows the extent of the plane's damage. 
The burned-out plane sits surrounded by emergency vehicles on July 6. 
CNN iReporter Amanda Painter took this photo while waiting at the San Francisco airport on July 6. The entire airport has shut down and flights diverted to other airports. 
iReporter Val Vaden captured this photo while waiting in a departure lounge at the San Francisco airport on July 6. Val observed the billowing smoke and emergency responders' rush in. 
iReporter Sven Duenwald was at home on July 6 when he saw smoke rising into the air near the San Francisco International Airport. 
iReporter Timothy Clark was standing on the eighth floor of the Embassy Suites Airport Hotel when he heard a loud crashing sound from outside. "My daughter told me she heard a plane crash. I used my camera to get a clearer view and I could see a dust cloud. Then people running from the plane, then flames," he said. 
A photo provided to CNN by Eunice Bird Rah -- and shot by her father, who was a passenger on the plane -- shows flames and smoke bursting out of many of the aircraft's windows. 
David Eun, a passenger on Asiana Airlines Flight 214, posted this image to Path.com along with the message, "I just crash landed at SFO. Tail ripped off. Most everyone seems fine, I'm ok. Surreal..." It was one of the first photographs taken after the crash.
- Asiana Airlines is fined $500,000 for inadequate aid to crash victims' familes
- It is the first time the DOT has issued a fine under a "family assistance plan" law
- Asiana failed to widely publicize any telephone number for family members, the DOT said
(CNN) -- The U.S. Department of Transportation on Tuesday fined Asiana Airlines $500,000 for failing to assist families following the crash of Asiana flight 214 in San Francisco in July.
The Korean airline was slow to publicize a phone number for families, took two full days to successfully contact the families of three-quarters of the passengers and did not contact families of several passengers until five days following the crash, authorities said.
The half-million-dollar penalty is the first time the DOT has issued a fine under a 1997 law that requires airlines to adopt and adhere to a "family assistance plan" for major accidents.
Three of the 291 passengers were killed and scores were injured when the Boeing 777 struck the seawall at San Francisco International Airport and tumbled down the runway.
$500K fine for Asiana Airlines "In the very rare event of a crash, airlines have a responsibility to provide their full support to help passengers and their families by following all the elements of their family assistance plans," Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx said in a statement. "The last thing families and passengers should have to worry about at such a stressful time is how to get information from their carrier."
Report: Teen dead before she was hit In the DOT order, Asiana said its job was complicated by the limited number of workers at San Francisco's airport and other circumstances. Injured passengers were sent to 13 different area hospitals, and there was no list prepared at the time to help the airline track passengers.
How firetrucks hit Asiana victim Hospitals also were reluctant to release information to the airline due to privacy laws, the airline said.
Asiana released a statement after the DOT fine was announced saying that it "provided extensive support to the passengers and their families following the accident and will continue to do so."
Under the Foreign Air Carrier Family Support Act of 1997, foreign air carriers assure the Department of Transportation and the National Transportation Safety Board that they will adhere to a "family assistance plan" in the event of aircraft accidents resulting in a major loss of life.
Among other things, airlines must publicize and staff a toll-free telephone number to take calls from families, notify families as soon as practical and commit sufficient resources to carry out the family assistance plan.
According to the DOT, Asiana failed to widely publicize any telephone number for family members of those on board, and the only number generally available to the public that family members could call was Asiana's toll-free reservations line.
Asiana publicized a phone number established by another entity 18 hours and 32 minutes after the crash, the DOT said.
Locating this phone number on Asiana's website required significant effort, the DOT said, and the reservations line did not include a separate menu option for calls related to the crash, requiring callers to navigate through cumbersome automated menus.
Asiana also took two days to send a sufficient number of trained personnel to San Francisco, and initially lacked an adequate number of staff able to communicate in the languages spoken by the flight's passengers, the DOT said.
According to the DOT, $400,000 of the penalty is due within 30 days. Up to $100,000 will be spent on multiple industry-wide conferences and training sessions to provide others with lessons learned from the Asiana crash aftermath.
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