That's exactly right. There's a 'cowboy' culture at Southwest. Unfortunately this culture could easily lead to a major accident. And also unfortunately, it will take a major accident to change the culture.
Very true. I’ve ridden their jumpseat. Frankly those of us fully vested in the safety systems everywhere in the rest of the airline industry wonder how SWA has put off a catastrophic event for this long. “Threat and error management” and formal SMS systems tell us that unless SWA changes their cockpit culture it is only a matter of time until it is changed for them. If it is changed for them, heads will roll at the FAA certificate management office that oversees SWA as well. The NTSB will finally get the attention of the public, and only then the media will ask, “what the heck is going on at Southwest?” Something pilots at other carriers having been asking for quite a while.