Asiana Airlines Inc., South Korea's No. 2 flag carrier, said Tuesday that pilot error and defects in the auto throttle system combined to cause the fatal crash of its passenger jet at San Francisco International Airport last year.

The company said in a statement that probable cause can be found in the very slow air speed that caused the B777-200ER carrying 291 passengers to stall.

It said the pilot of flight 214 did not realize the plane was not maintaining proper air speed as it approached the runway. Asiana, however, pointed out that problems in the design of the auto throttle system on the jet did not give proper warnings, which played a critical role in the accident that left three people dead.

Asiana said that the auto throttle's design caused the pilot to believe that adequate power was going to the engines when in fact it was not.

Loss of speed and a faster rate of descent caused the plane's main landing gear to hit the seawall at the threshold of runway 28L, resulting in the crash. (Yonhap)