MD-80 is a tricky dawg without auto spoilers, even in the hands of the most experienced shady-80 pilots. If, after touchdown, if you're not right on airspeed, and quick with the manual extension, the plane WILL go flying again. Trust me, I've done it more than once and one of the times I actually had to take it around. Not pretty, and neither is manually deploying the spoilers after the bounce as this will defeat the lift, causing the plane to come down very abruptly (done that too--I suck).

Auto Spoilers, or lack thereof (they weren't armed), were the cause of the fatal MD-80 crash at Little Rock, where the plane went sailing off the end of the runway. Different scenario, but it underscores their importance.

Performance numbers look great on paper, but we all know they represent ideal conditions and test pilots. This guy was new, considered the challenges of the environment and his own limitations/experience. He made the call I would have wanted with my family on board. We should be commending him for his steadfast decision-making, judgement and conservative approach. I would love to see the FAA response to a guy like that getting terminated for solid judgement.