`` Look at that one -- look at how his nose is up in the air . '' The big Boeing jetliner looked a bit odd to aircraft buff Fred Hayes as it neared the runway at San Francisco International Airport on Saturday . It seemed to be low , and its nose was tilted sharply upward . Then a banging sound echoed across the water , and the jet flipped nose-down and skidded in an orange-and-gray cloud . Hayes captured the scene on video while on a walk with his wife along San Francisco Bay , about a mile away . `` Oh , my God , '' Hayes said as Asiana Airlines Flight 214 tore into the tarmac and skidded across the ground . `` Oh my God . Oh , my God . Oh , Lord have mercy . '' The crash-landing left two dead and hurt 182 people , six of whom were in critical condition Sunday . But 123 others walked away unhurt . Hayes and his family were on a weekend visit to San Francisco , where he had a job interview on Friday . He said he had been focusing on a taxiing United Airlines jet when the Asiana flight caught his eye . `` When I caught the plane coming into view , everything looked fine at first until I kind of fixed my gaze on him , and I seen his nose up in the air , '' Hayes said . `` And then I just totally locked on him . I thought he was going to take off and go up , and then he just kept going down . '' The Boeing 777 appeared `` maybe a little lower than some of the other planes '' as it approached , `` but I could n't say that for sure , '' he told CNN 's Don Lemon . Witnesses , survivors recount crash . `` My initial thought was that with the nose pitched up in the degree that it was that the pilot was maybe trying to divert the landing , '' said Hayes , who has no background in aviation . `` As you can see in the video , it was pretty low at that point and that may or may not have been the case . '' Investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board told a similar story Sunday afternoon . Asiana 214 appeared to be too low and too slow as it neared the runway , and the cockpit voice recorder indicates the crew tried to abort the landing less than two seconds before the crash , NTSB Chairman Deborah Hersman told reporters . Aviation expert Jim Tilmon called the video `` remarkable footage '' that will likely be analyzed by investigators `` over and over again . '' Once the jet hit the ground , it skidded nose-down and sideways , spinning counterclockwise and catching fire . Tilmon , a former jetliner pilot himself , told CNN the pilot showed `` a fair amount of skill '' in keeping the jet from flipping over . `` If that had happened -- my goodness , this would be a completely different kind of report to make today , '' he said . `` Because there would sure have been a great deal more injuries as a result . '' Hayes said a `` thunder-like '' sound rang across the bay when the more than 200-foot-long jetliner slammed into the ground . `` Every time a section hit , you could hear that boom and that sound , '' he said . After three or four `` really big booms , '' he said , `` It just kind of slid and came to a stop . '' He and his wife watched as the emergency slides deployed and passengers began to slide down them away from the wrecked jet . He said he hoped crash investigators could learn from the video he shot . `` The only thing we can say is we 're just really happy that a lot of people survived , because it was n't looking good for them folks on that plane for sure , '' Hayes said . Chinese netizens mourn Asiana crash victims .
`` He just kept going down , '' witness says . Fred Hayes captured the crash of Asiana Flight 214 on video . ` ` The plane was flying from San Francisco to Singapore when it crashed in bad weather over the South China Sea. An aviation expert calls the video `` remarkable footage ''