Southwest 737 Skids off Runway at MDW

[PhilDernerJr]

:oops:

RIP

[Alex T]

Captain was a 10 yr old veteran with SWA, First officer was a 2 yr hire.

Some crewmembers reported to be seriously injured, but right now only being rumored.
Alex

[moose135]

09 Dec, 0053 Zulu, wind 100* at 11knots, visibility 1/2 statute miles, snow, freezing fog, overcast at 1400 feet. tempurature -3*C, dew point -4*C, altimiter 3006. the rest don't matter...

So if the winds were 100 at 11kt, why are they landing Rwy 31? Shooting a approach down to minimums then landing on a short, snow-covered runway with a tailwind just doesn't make much sense to me. Not much room for error there.

[NIKV69]

Really I think when all is said and done we will find that landing with a tail wind and the storm caused this plane to overrun the runway. Those runways at MDW are too damn short, there is no room for error.

[lijk604]

...and the pilots will get blamed as usual. Then again, why not go around? Unless they were too tight on fuel.....?

I dont care who the carrier is, I hate hearing news like this, although, you know its inevitable. Its going to happen again somewhere.

[NIKV69]

Well, the final decision to put a plane down lies with the pilot. We can't know what went on in that cockpit but he must have felt that though the landing was not routine that he could get it down safely. If he felt the tail wind was not a problem then we can assume the runway and snow and or ice caused the pilot to have trouble braking. It could be a lot of things, was visability bad so that he landed too far down the runway or was he too fast? We have to wait and see.

[IslipWN]

I hope the WN plane is doing ok!

[Clipper]

I hope the WN plane is doing ok!

Looks like a total loss to me. They totaled another one in Burbank few years back, the pilot landed short and ran thru a fence onto a busy street too.

[UrbanExplorer222]

I just read today that a 6 year old boy died. He was in one of the cars that got hit. A real shame, and a sad loss for the family.

[Art at ISP]

Word on another board is that WN disables autoland and autobraking functions on the 737 because of maintenance costs. If true this is a sad statement, and confirms their status as the "Walmart" of the airline industry. Further reason why I would NEVER fly them.

That said, latest news is that there was a problem with the thrust reversers not deploying properly during the rollout--this could be a big factor in the incident.

By the way does anyone know the approximate age of the aircraft involved? By reg it appears to be relatively new.

My thoughts and prayers to the little one's family--may he rest in peace.

[LGA777]

Art, N471WN was a little over a year old, delivered around Aug 2004. I read on another site because autobrakes start braking at main gear wheel contact they normally reduce landing roll-out distance by about 400 feet, which was probably significant in this case.

When a carrier orders a new 737 from Boeing or a new 319/320 from Airbus there are literally hundreds of factory options, many are cockpit and avionics related, while many others are cabin related such as number of and brand of galleys, even the little fish-eye fresh air vents above your seat. I have flown on a few 737/757's with out them (BA), not fun. Anyway point of story WN is known for ordering their 737's pretty stripped down, very basic versions. Many of the US Majors tend to order theirs much more fully equipped, such as the carrier you most frequent.

Regards

LGA777.