Nearing Midway, pilots worried about landing

Nearing Midway, pilots worried about landing
Updated 6/21/2006 12:21 AM ET
By Alan Levin, USA TODAY

WASHINGTON — The pilots of the Southwest Airlines jet that skidded off a snowy Chicago runway and killed a boy last December worried that it wasn't safe to land and thought about diverting to another city, a transcript of the cockpit voice recorder shows.

The crew debated for much of the flight's last two hours about whether they could stop on Midway International Airport's short runways, according to the transcript, released Tuesday by the National Transportation Safety Board.

"If it's poor, it's scary," said First Officer Steven Oliver, a reference to reports that snow on the runway had made braking conditions on the runway "poor."

"I ain't doin' it," replied Capt. Bruce Sutherland.

They reconsidered after getting reports from other pilots who described conditions as "fair" to "poor." Using fair as the condition for their calculations, the crew decided the jet could land safely.

The jet slid off the end of the runway, crashed through two fences and struck two vehicles on an adjacent roadway on Dec. 8. The impact killed Joshua Woods, 6, who was riding in a car with his family.

Oliver and Sutherland told investigators after the crash that they saw Joshua's father, Leroy, his face bloodied, holding his 4-year-old son, Jake, and screaming at the pilots. Joshua was trapped inside the car.

The NTSB has not concluded what caused the crash. Documents released at the hearing show the agency is examining several possible areas: airline policies, the antiquated airport layout, pilot actions and decisions by federal regulators.

Evidence released Tuesday showed the pilots were within the rules that Southwest operated under at the time.

The airline has since changed its policy and now requires pilots to calculate stopping distance based on the worst possible report of runway conditions.

The transcript shows that the mood of the cockpit was a mix of casual banter and concern. Before the situation became chaotic, the pilots joked and laughed.

After concluding they could land at 7:04 p.m., Oliver quoted from the 1980 film Airplane, a spoof of air-disaster movies. "Picked the wrong day to stop sniffin' glue," he said.

Runway Safety to Be Focus of NTSB Hearing

Quote:

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The National Transportation Safety Board begins a two-day hearing Tuesday on the Dec. 8 accident at Chicago's Midway Airport. A Southwest Airlines jet skidded off the slick runway and crashed through a fence into the street, where it killed Joshua Woods of Leroy, Ind., who was riding in a car.

The runway, like about 300 others at commercial airports in the United States, did not have a 1,000-foot buffer zone at the end for airplanes that overshoot their landings.

And the pilots of the Boeing 737 relied on a flawed landing technique that should be banned, according to the NTSB.

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[i]"Returning to the cockpit, Mr. Sutherland "then saw the man from the car, with blood down his face who was holding a child and yelling at him."

I myself have flown Southwest Airlines many times and have talked and i know alot of their pilots - this is sad espcially the crap they have to hear from some people - i know that has to hurt. It really must hurt.

it's a shame that these two pilots are never going to be able to live down the incident. i feel that they made a decision based on the information that they had at hand, wether it was the right or wrong decision i wont know and can't comment on. definately want to read that NTSB report!