by "ttyymmnn" (ttyymmnn)
Published 01/25/2017 at 10:13
by "ttyymmnn" (ttyymmnn)
Published 01/25/2017 at 10:13
Tags: Planelopnik
STARS: 8
Back in December 2015, Southwest Airlines Flight 31, a Boeing 737 (N649SW), was taxiing to the gate at Nashville International Airport when the pilot misjudged a turn onto an unlit taxiway and drove his plane into a ditch. Though the aircraft’s taxi lights were lit, the flight crew was dazzled by the lights of the terminal and couldn’t see the darkened taxiway. The airliner suffered a collapsed nose wheel and damage to the fuselage and engines. Nine of the 138 passengers and crew were slightly injured while evacuating the plane.
After the plane came to rest in the ditch, things didn’t exactly go smoothly. A landing gear warning siren was blaring in the cockpit, and the pilots couldn’t shut it off. That distraction kept them from communicating with flight attendants, and the flight attendants were unable to contact the cockpit because the interphone wasn’t working. The pilots eventually called over the public address that the passengers were to stay on the plane, but the flight attendants, since they couldn’t reach the cockpit, had already ordered the evacuation.
About one minute after the airplane came to rest, the pilots noticed that the slides were deploying and passengers were evacuating and the captain announced on the public address system “Okay don’t evacuate flight attendants, do not evacuate,” to which the first officer responded “Oh, they are already going.”
Of course, as the passengers started moving around the cabin, they began to grab their belongings. One passenger took his large folding garment bag with him down the escape slide. Another passenger tried to take a giant rolling suitcase down the slide. The flight attendant was having none of that nonsense.
I only had one lady try to take a huge roller bag down the slide. I yelled at her to leave everything. She was reluctant, but I finally grabbed the bag from her hands and threw it against the aft closet and told her to go down the slide.
Good for her.
But how did the lights get turned off? Apparently, pilots had been complaining that the centerline lights were too bright , so ground controllers would routinely turn them off. The Controller in Charge turned off the offending lights, but also inadvertently turned off the lights that were going to be needed by SW31. And, to top it off, the computer screen that would have warned them that the lights were off had gone into a screensaver, so when the Southwest plane landed the controllers didn’t know the lights were still off.
Not surprisingly, Nashville Airport modified their practices about turning off the taxiway lighting, and disabled their screensaver, which probably looked a bit like this:
"Jcarr" (jcarr)
01/25/2017 at 10:23, STARS: 1
Illuminating.
"OpposResidentLexusGuy - USE20, XF20, XU30 and Press Cars" (jakeauern)
01/25/2017 at 10:26, STARS: 0
Interesting fact, BNA has been rebuilding the runways for the last couple years.im familiar with one of the project leads for the engineering company. The main problem is/was Nashvilles runway is much more like this ~~~~ than ——-.
"DipodomysDeserti" (dipodomysdeserti)
01/25/2017 at 10:29, STARS: 1
Round of applause for Southwest airlines and the Nashville International Airport!
"RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht" (ramblininexile)
01/25/2017 at 10:37, STARS: 1
I’m viewing the role of the airport in a dim light.
"ttyymmnn" (ttyymmnn)
01/25/2017 at 10:37, STARS: 2
The NTSB report goes into more detail about the runways and taxiways, and I needed to generalize here. I’m wondering why the flight crew didn’t stop and say, “Uh, tower, we can’t see.”
"Chariotoflove" (chariotoflove)
01/25/2017 at 10:39, STARS: 0
What I was thinking. Maybe they felt they needed to get out of the way for other planes? But you’d think they’d still say something.
"ttyymmnn" (ttyymmnn)
01/25/2017 at 10:42, STARS: 1
A number of years ago, I arranged a tour of the airport fire station for my son’s birthday (it was awesome, btw). As we stood outside the station, directly across from the terminal and adjacent to one of the taxiways, the firefighter pointed out how fast the SWA pilots were driving. There is a 30mph speed limit on the taxiway, he said, but the SWA pilots haul ass because they only get paid when the wheels are turning, and they want to get into the air as quickly as possible. So, if this a standard practice all across SWA, speed may have been a factor as well, though the NTSB doesn’t mention it.
"Chariotoflove" (chariotoflove)
01/25/2017 at 10:46, STARS: 1
Didn’t know that, but it makes sense. Enforcement is up to the airport. If that was a cause here, maybe the airport will reevaluate their tolerance levels.
"For Sweden" (rallybeetle)
01/25/2017 at 11:03, STARS: 1
People like this sure make the job interesting
"ttyymmnn" (ttyymmnn)
01/25/2017 at 11:07, STARS: 1
You wouldn’t want to be bored at work, would you?
"You can tell a Finn but you can't tell him much" (youcantellafinn)
01/25/2017 at 12:02, STARS: 1
If they were on a runway it would be more dangerous to stop on the runway than to drive into a ditch.
Also, that lead image though. Lol. Now available in gif form.
"You can tell a Finn but you can't tell him much" (youcantellafinn)
01/25/2017 at 12:03, STARS: 0
They need some brighter controllers.
"RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht" (ramblininexile)
01/25/2017 at 12:13, STARS: 0
A pity the pilot couldn’t see it through.
"RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht" (ramblininexile)
01/25/2017 at 12:14, STARS: 1
I’ve read NTSB reports before, and they’re always very interesting - if tragic when they’re about fatal incidents.
"ttyymmnn" (ttyymmnn)
01/25/2017 at 12:21, STARS: 0
It’s an interesting arrangement, how the NTSB does the investigating, but it is up to the FAA to make the regulations. And the FAA is the position of having to both regulate and promote the aviation industry. It’s a difficult balancing act that doesn’t always come out in favor of the passengers.
"ttyymmnn" (ttyymmnn)
01/25/2017 at 12:23, STARS: 0
They were not on a runway. They were taxiing to the gate, having already crossed a runway. They needed to make a turn and missed it. I’m not a pilot, but I assume they could have held at an appropriate spot and called for help.