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737 off runway at MDW

skoker

skoker

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Aug 6, 2005
1,839
0
A Southwest Airlines (my future employer :) ) 737-700 (with the winglets) has just crashed upon landing in heavy weather at Chicago Midway airport. Flight WN 1248 is BWI-MDW. Very heavy snow at time of accident. 98 People reported on board, several injuries to people in vehicles on the ground. Reports that nose gear collapsed upon landing, unconfirmed at this point.

Will update as more becomes available.
 
yeah its snowing like crazy here, its a bit unbelieveable, and its not the heavy snow either, its the light powder thats super slippery.

im not surprised to hear about this happening, i just hope everyone is okay.
 
I didn't read the article but I hope nobody was critically injured in this accident... I guess the plane ended up very near my room mates home
 
I think it's more like a vehicle sideswiped by a 737, wonder if insurance will cover that.

I had the rightaway, but this 737 ran a red light. :eek:
 
Ok, and here my Senior Graphic Design class is discussing possible Winter Quarter Studio visits in other cities and someone suggested Chicago as his #1 choice. Great, I mean a plan crash is after all a rarity when one thinks of how many there are flying 24/7. But still.

Glade the passengers are OK.
 
Yea, this is a big mess. I'm still more worried about the fire that happened at the Fullerton el station today on the North Side as I go to DePaul, but I haven't heard much about it at all because of the plane accident.
 
That is weirld. Just this week in my manufacturing class we all had to choose some type of manufacturing defect lawsuit case and then give a presentation to the class. One group picked the beoing 737 because they have a history of crashes. Something with tail rudder getting stuck in an extreme position to the side due to a hydrolic cylinder.
 
wwooden said:
That is weirld. Just this week in my manufacturing class we all had to choose some type of manufacturing defect lawsuit case and then give a presentation to the class. One group picked the beoing 737 because they have a history of crashes. Something with tail rudder getting stuck in an extreme position to the side due to a hydrolic cylinder.
Click to expand...

yeah, that defect was responsible for ~3 accidents in the early 90's. If I remember right, 2 were American Airlines and one was United.
 
it would have been funny if stopped in front of the drive through window...
But i feel bad for that boys family. An accident could have been avoided.
I wonder how bad we'll get it in MA. I have a final tomarrow, i wonder if they cancel it, if i would have to make it up.
 
I don't think the 737 has an usual safety record. Southwest flies nothing but 737s, and they've had only two accidents in their entire history, IIRC. Both (including this one) were runway overruns. If somebody in the airplane did die in this accident then I think it will be the first fatality ever on a Southwest airplane -- which is a pretty darned good record.
 
I can't believe that 7 inches of snow can be a problem. Here (in Finland) we have several feet of snow during the winter, and all airports are operational at all times. Snow is never a problem.
 
skoker said:
A Southwest Airlines (my future employer :) ) 737-700 (with the winglets) has just crashed upon landing....
Click to expand...

Why the smiley? That could be you on that plane, buddy. :confused:

And from all these stories, the boy wasn't really talked about very much, and he's the one who died. Sorta sad.
 
pinto32 said:
yeah, that defect was responsible for ~3 accidents in the early 90's. If I remember right, 2 were American Airlines and one was United.
Click to expand...

I think one was an US Airways 737, crashed outside Pittsburgh, but I was only like 4 at the time so I don't remember much about it. The only other WN (Southwest) "crash" ever was a runway overrun at Burbank back in 2000 when they had a bird strike and rejected the takeoff, coming to rest on the end of the runway in a gas station. WN has only had one faitality on any of its flights, a flight a few years back from Salt Lake to Las Vegas where a man was killed by his fellow passengers :(

I'm a big Southwest fan (along with the rest of my family, so this accident is quite disappointing. Scary enough, I was on this aircraft about 3 months ago BUF-BWI. Reg # is N471WN
 
Even though I made the comment about my classmates doing a presentation on the 737's, they did mention that even with this defect, the 737's are still the safest planes in the air. They are the most flown airplane in history and have the best record.
 
Accident spot is circled. What a wacky place to put a runway.
 

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It was the PCU dual-servo valve that was suspect in those crashes you mention, and a replacement program is still in effect. Pilots have been trained to "work around" the failure in simulation (or so three chums of mine who happen to fly 737's tell me).

All of the valves have not been replaced yet, believe it or not.

Anyway, looks like the pilot of this one probably came in a bit hot, or overshot the aiming point, which is pretty hard to do with ILS. It will be interesting to see. Could be the runway was just icy as hell.
 
skoker said:
The only other WN (Southwest) "crash" ever was a runway overrun at Burbank back in 2000 when they had a bird strike and rejected the takeoff, coming to rest on the end of the runway in a gas station.
Click to expand...

The Burbank accident occurred on landing. The NTSB conclusion was excess speed and improper approach path. FWIW.
 
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