Pilots Names Were Released Last Week

It was bad enough that KTVU fell for the fake names of the flight crew of Asiana Airlines.

In their apology the station claims they never said the names out loud before they hit the air.

But, they did say that they got confirmation of the fake names after calling the NTSB.  Which makes us wonder.....when the called Washington and talked to the "Summer intern", didn't they have to say the names out loud over the phone?

Did the person that made that call not hear what they were saying, when they read the names off? 

It didn't long after the names were read on the station's noon newscast for KTVU news producer Brad Belstock (pictured) to figure out that they had been pranked.

FTVLive does not know what Belstock's role was, if any in the colossal screw up, but shortly after the story hit the air, Belstock sent out this tweet:

Not long after the shit really started hitting the fan, Belstock deleted his Twitter account. 

The station admits that they were rushing the names to air after getting the confirmation from the NTSB. 

But, here's the part that will really having you scratch your head. 

The flight crews names were released 5 days earlier and had been published a number of times. 

On July 8th Reuters wrote:  

"Lee Kang-kuk, whose anglicised name was released for the first time on Monday and differed slightly from earlier usage, was the second most junior pilot of four on board the Asiana Airlines aircraft and had 43 hours' experience flying the long-range jet, the airline said on Monday.

Asiana said Lee Kang-kuk was in the pilot seat during the landing, although it was not clear whether the senior pilot, Lee Jung-min, who had clocked up 3,220 hours on a Boeing 777, had tried to take over to abort the landing."

KTVU ran promo after promo bragging on their coverage, did not someone know that these names had been released 5 days earlier and that Ho Lee Fuk along with the others were not the names? 

No word yet on who has been fired or suspended for this incident at KTVU? It was a mistake that will likely soil the station's reputation for years to come.

If that's not grounds for dismissal, we don't know what is.