Plane skids off runway at Chicago's Midway Airport

[[jonrev]]

http://www.nbc5.com/news/5496914/detail ... ppid=65194
Some REALLY nasty weather today.

[FRD714]

Im watching it right now.

[msoeagle]

Wow

[Trailblazer Tony]

I've been watching that too. It is a good thing i didn't go to my grandpa's house today, i would have been driving right by there.

Also, they just announced that a little boy died there. May God be with his family in their time of need.

[[jonrev]]

[Galvan]

From the sounds of this accident, it seems to me that the Boeing 737-700 involved was coming in too high and that icy conditions on the runway may have contributed to the accident. Southwest, also stated that the plane was just serviced in Pheonix last week so there where no mechanical issues with the particular aircraft as well. The airline also noted that the plane that crashed, was circling the airport for 30 minutes prior to the accident.


It should also be noted that on December 8th 1972 a United Airlines 737 (also the type of plane involved in yesterday's incident) crash on landing at Midway Airport. More then 35 people where killed in that accident.

[[jonrev]]

I heard that on the news this morning (the crash in the 70s).

[Sireze]

They Also Said a CBS News Reported Died In that Crash in 1976 or 77. What Was Her Name?

[DejaVuGurl1203]

I heard about that this morning. My PE teacher was talking about it. She was saying that we never know when our time will come and that we should be grateful for our family and whatnot... try not to stay mad at them for too long, because you never know, they might die today. I knew one of my teachers would mention it.

[Trailblazer Tony]

Does anyone know if they have moved the plane out of the road yet?

[Aero737]

Yes, yesterday afternoon.

[[jonrev]]

I believe it's now in a hanger.

[Galvan]

Pilots are saying the Thrust Reversers werent slowing the plane down as it was coming in for a landing.

My theory to this is its quite possible the heavy snow conditions made this an issue.

We know that the airplane in question was recently serviced and overhauled. So i would be surprised that a mechanical issue was the cause for this incident. Especially given the Airline in question (Which not only has some of the newest planes in the sky but is the benchmark for safety in the United States.)

[ihauntu2]

They were also in a tailwind configuration on traffic set-up. According to the news there was some chatter on their black box about requesting ATC to change the config to headwind due to runway conditions.

Tailwind + Slciker than normal runway + delayed reverse thruster = damn lucky it didn't go across the whole road killing even more people.

[Galvan]

Winds where gusting anywhere from 13 to 20 mph... I dont think the tailwind was THAT much of a factor.

Given the weather conditions at the time of the incident, I think the plane shouldnt have landed at MDW anyway.

[punkbunny24242]

This is why I hate Midway.. their runways are waaaaay shorter then O'Hare's causing take off to go straight (I mean straight) up and landings always seem awkward at Midway. When we booked our honeymoon we made sure that we were flying out of O'Hare and that was before this horrible incident occured. You could not pay me to fly out of Midway now!!

[Galvan]

^ Pilot error is to blame for this incident...NOT the Airport. and as i stated in an earlier thread... I guess the tailwind was a factor in this incident.


Midway Airport along with Southwest are the safest in the industry. In fact This was Southwest's first fatality in 35 years of service, thats the benchmark of Aviation saftey.

Midway also is a far as take offs and landings go One of if not the safest of all Aiports. And its been around longer then O'hare.

Another reason that MDWs runways are shorter then ORDs is because the types of planes that fly into ORD are ALOT bigger then the planes at MDW, you've got huge jumbojets, 777s,747s, a340s landing at ORD with mainly the type of plane that flies in an out of MDW is the 737.

I find your "worry" about Midway Airport crazy..... If the accident happened at Ohare would you feel the same way?

[punkbunny24242]

Once again you could not pay ME to fly out of Midway. I did not state that Midway was any unsafer than other airports because of the shorter runways I said that I (me personally) did not like it because of the shorter runways.

My "worry" about Midway may be crazy to you but it is not crazy to me. I don't like flying as it is and because of the shorter runways it causes the landing and take off to be much different then any other airport that I have ever flown out of. I don't see your attempt to fight with me when I was stating how I feel about Midway.

[Galvan]

^ I have flown in and out of MDW for years and lived near there even longer, This is the first time ever that a person was worried about the short runways at MDW.

Fight you? how am i fighting you? just because I disagree with you, thats a fight?

Let me ask you this much... where have you've flown too?

Just curious...

Mike

[punkbunny24242]

TN multiple times, FL and TX. I agree that people don't usually walk around talking about which airport they like better and why but from asking around allot of people have noticed that take off at Midway is worse in terms of someone who is already afraid to fly. I know quite a few people who prefer and try to fly out of Ohare because of that very issue.

In my original post I commented on how I do not like to fly out of Midway because of the take off due to the short runways. I in no way stated that the tragic freak accident last Thursday was caused from Midway having short runways.

I feel that you are fighting with me because you are telling me that they way that I feel is wrong. I have flown out of both because I also live very close and I prefer Ohare. I said that "you could not pay me to fly out of Midway" because ok I'll admit it.. I'm a huge baby when it comes to flying! The last time I flew I actually cried at take off (my dad took a picture to prove it) and that was actually one of our trips to TN out of Midway. So the fact that I already don't like the take off and now this happens during the landing. Yes if it happened at Ohare then I would probably have to drive everywhere because I would have no place to fly out of

[Aero737]

But Midway IS in violation of the 1000 foot 'buffer zone' reccomended by the FAA.

I'm not against Midway (Pearsonally, I perfer O'Hare) but no matter how much you argue, midway is still in violation of that rule, it still has shorter runways than O'hare, takeoff's and landings are a little bit more intense at Midway.

*(I've never flown out of Midway, but I've talked to realitives and friends who have and they both state that landing at Midway is more intense than O'Hare)

[Galvan]

^

Its not a rule but a reccomendation... The 1000 foot buffer zone is installed at a few US airports and IS NOT a law.

If it where a law, MDW would not be in operation.

As for PinkBunny, Im willing to bet you this... If you've flown into smaller cities you're more then likely have landed on a runway that was as long as Midway's

[RagingBullFan]

Of the nearly 300 airports that are recommended to have the 1000 ft. buffer less than 2 dozen have it. Some, such as Washington/Regan National cannot add anymore runway ( You overrun and you going Plunk! Into the river...) the best option that many of these airports have is a crushable concrete end of the runway. It'll slow it down much more but it can't do the same work as the buffer zone.