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NTSB: Plane at Midway Needed More Runway
Yahoo News ^ | 12/15/2005 | By ANNA JOHNSON, Associated Press Writer

Posted on 12/15/2005 6:50:13 PM PST by rawhide

CHICAGO - A jetliner that skidded off a landing strip and into a city street needed about 800 more feet of runway to come to a safe stop, federal investigators said Thursday. The Southwest Airlines jet crushed a car, killing a 6-year-old boy, after it skidded off a 6,500-foot runway and crashed through a fence at Midway International Airport earlier this month.

A preliminary investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board shows the airplane touched down with about 4,500 feet of runway remaining, but snowy conditions and other factors meant the plane ideally needed about 5,300 feet of runway, according to a report released Thursday.

The Southwest Airlines jet crushed a car, killing a 6-year-old boy, after it skidded off a 6,500-foot runway and crashed through a fence at Midway International Airport earlier this month.A preliminary investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board shows the airplane touched down with about 4,500 feet of runway remaining, but snowy conditions and other factors meant the plane ideally needed about 5,300 feet of runway, according to a report released Thursday.

Jim Hall, a former NTSB chairman not involved in the investigation, said the pilots landed the plane too late.

"You can come to the conclusion that the plane landed long. It touched down too far down the runway," he said.

The jet's actual stopping distance was about 5,000 feet, the NTSB report said. A tail wind contributed to the accident because it caused the plane to land faster than normal, according to the report.

Southwest Airlines spokeswoman Beth Harbin declined comment on the NTSB's findings. ...(continued below)


TOPICS: Extended News; Front Page News; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: captainobvious; duh; mdw; ntsb; swa
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(continued)...Midway, which is surrounded by dense neighborhoods, lacks the Federal Aviation Administration's recommended 1,000-foot buffer zone at the end of its runways. Only 82 feet separated the end of the runway and the fence the aircraft crashed through.

Chicago aviation officials have said the FAA has determined there is not enough room at the end of Midway's airstrips to install beds of crushable concrete that can slow an aircraft if it overshoots a runway.

Midway is among nearly 300 commercial airports in the U.S. that don't have adequate runway buffers. A recently passed federal law requires the airfields to extend runway barriers by 2015 or build the concrete beds.

City Department of Aviation officials did not immediately return a call for comment Thursday about the NTSB report.

Investigators said last week that the plane's reverse thrusters, which should have slowed the jetliner, didn't immediately kick in when the pilots tried to deploy them.

The captain also told investigators that the plane didn't decelerate normally so he applied the brakes manually. When the first officer noticed the problem, he moved his seat forward to apply maximum braking, the NTSB said in its report.

Both crew members said they applied maximum pressure to the brakes as the airplane skidded off the runway and came to a stop in the street.

Air traffic controllers said the runway's conditions were fair for most of the runway and poor at the end, according to the NTSB.

Joshua Woods of Leroy, Ind., who was killed in the accident, was buried Wednesday. It was the first fatal crash in Southwest's 35-year history.

A law firm representing the boy's family said in a statement Thursday that the NTSB findings were an "unequivocal statement" that the plane should not have landed, and the crew was "not prepared for the landing."

Attorney Ronald Stearney Jr. has said the family plans to sue.

1 posted on 12/15/2005 6:50:14 PM PST by rawhide
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To: rawhide
Useless things:

Also--Maintain thy airspeed, lest the ground rise up and smite thee...

2 posted on 12/15/2005 6:55:17 PM PST by Coyoteman (I love the sound of beta decay in the morning!)
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To: rawhide

Sounds like someone's adding is a little off. They say they need longer runways but was not the runway 6500 ft. Me thinks something is not adding up. What happened to the other 2000 ft of runway. It vanish like a fart in the wind?


3 posted on 12/15/2005 6:55:23 PM PST by colchicine (Friends are just enemies who don't have the guts to kill you.)
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To: rawhide

The pilot has already reported that the thrust reversers didn't engage.


4 posted on 12/15/2005 6:56:57 PM PST by Buck W. (Yesterday's Intelligentsia are today's Irrelevantsia.)
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To: rawhide

A 737 can land in 3500 feet, depending upon weight, wind and runway conditions. A 9 knot tailwind would add 1080 feet, and poor braking could add another 1200 feet to landing distance. At Midway you have to get it ALL right the first time. If you land long, there more than most airports, you need to go-around for another approach.


5 posted on 12/15/2005 6:57:47 PM PST by AmericanDave (Woe is the Income Tax...... and more Cowbell...)
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To: colchicine

Have you ever flown into Midway? The approach is pretty scary.


6 posted on 12/15/2005 6:58:23 PM PST by xrp (Conservative votes are to Republicans what 90% of black votes are to Democrats (taken for granted))
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To: Coyoteman

Don't forget:

-gas when you're on fire.


7 posted on 12/15/2005 6:59:29 PM PST by AmericanDave (Woe is the Income Tax...... and more Cowbell...)
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To: colchicine

"...the airplane touched down with about 4,500 feet of runway remaining..."


8 posted on 12/15/2005 7:00:58 PM PST by John W
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To: rawhide

I bet the plane going through the fence provided an important clue.


9 posted on 12/15/2005 7:09:51 PM PST by Nachoman
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To: John W

That's right they landed long. If the touchdown zone markings were not obscurred by snow; they would realize it, and idealy go-around.


10 posted on 12/15/2005 7:09:54 PM PST by AmericanDave (Woe is the Income Tax...... and more Cowbell...)
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To: rawhide

Why do airports with short runways like Midway land airplanes with the wind? Wouldn't it make sense to land against the wind to have a slower SOG?


11 posted on 12/15/2005 7:14:30 PM PST by Doohickey (If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice...I will choose freewill.)
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To: rawhide
This report is either BS, or someone at NTSB is playing politics. These guys NEVER publish results of investigations for months.

I'll be Mayor Daily is involved. With his pathetic closure of Chicago Meigs field, he can't keep his hands off aviation.

He needs to learn his place. Either be mayor of a city, or become secretary of transportation. He's out of his territory.

12 posted on 12/15/2005 7:15:29 PM PST by narby (Hillary! The Wicked Witch of the Left)
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To: rawhide

I don't blame the family for wanting compensation for their horrific loss, but their lawyer is a teeny bit anxious, isn't he?


13 posted on 12/15/2005 7:17:18 PM PST by digger48
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To: Doohickey

It was reported that to switch the runway to land with a headwind would have required shutting down a runway in use at O'Hare to the North.

Midway, Dallas Love, Houston Hobby, Washington National; should all have been shutdown when the new airports were built!


14 posted on 12/15/2005 7:20:18 PM PST by AmericanDave (Woe is the Income Tax...... and more Cowbell...)
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To: rawhide

"NTSB: Plane at Midway Needed More Runway"

Now here's another story stating the obvious!


15 posted on 12/15/2005 7:22:15 PM PST by kaehurowing
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To: rawhide
NTSB: Plane at Midway Needed More Runway

Right, and the Titanic needed more open ocean between it and the iceberg.

16 posted on 12/15/2005 7:22:39 PM PST by 2 Kool 2 Be 4-Gotten (Is your problem ignorance or apathy? I don't know and I don't care.)
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To: Coyoteman

Can I add fuel you just dumped.


17 posted on 12/15/2005 7:25:34 PM PST by USNBandit (sarcasm engaged at all times)
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To: AmericanDave
Washington National

Your liberalism is showing. The Airport is Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.

18 posted on 12/15/2005 7:29:10 PM PST by PAR35
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To: rawhide

“Both crew members said they applied maximum pressure to the brakes as the airplane skidded off the runway and came to a stop in the street”
How much pressure does one apply when already skidding on snow and ice?

I suspect the pilots are under considerable pressure to meet schedules. I doubt a decision to divert or go around would go over well in the pilots lounge back at home base. I don’t recall any mention about runway visibility range, but I suspect visibility wasn’t too great either on the roll out, or approach, and as already mentioned, I doubt the runway marking were visible.

I guess it’s true, there are old pilots, and bold pilots, but no old bold pilots.

BTW, a similar accident occurred at Burbank, CA, without the weather component. I have little doubt another similar accident will occur at Burbank, sooner or later, or perhaps a departure accident during the noise abatement take-off, when the aircraft is hanging on the engines on the verge of a stall until reaching 1000’ AGL.


19 posted on 12/15/2005 7:30:21 PM PST by RLM
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To: AmericanDave

Thanks. I guess that makes sense. Hindsight is 20-20, and I'm sure there were lots of airplanes that didn't run the red light at W 55th and S Central.

You don't really expect the Washington elite to give up THEIR airport, do you? :)


20 posted on 12/15/2005 7:30:38 PM PST by Doohickey (If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice...I will choose freewill.)
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