No one has said anything like that.

 

Did some one heckle the pilots?

 

Me, too. I wonder, though. Are those two pilots still flying for SWA?

 

I'm open, I'm open....throw me the ball........

 

did anyone think they WERENT going to blame the pilots? Theres almost always at least a little blame placed on the pilots in every incident/accident, its unfair but thats just something we live with.

 

And the pilots getting the blame is accurate in 70-80% of mishaps now.

the dude sitting next to you is your best chance to avoid being a statistic

 

Its probably actually even a little higher than that percentage wise. That said, there is always a rush to blame the flight crew.... its almost like well...lets put the blame on the guys in the pointy end and let it be proven it WASNT their fault. Not fair perhaps.... just reality.

 

Who had the keys to the jet? Did dispatch??? Operations??? the F/As in the back???? the F/O???

Yes we need to complete the mission... however as expeditiously, safely, and without risk to his/her crew, passengers and equipment.

 

All blame on the pilots aside, I'm surprised that there hasn't been ANY mention of the various pressures on the local controllers to operate both ORD and MDW with tailwinds even in sub-optimal weather conditions in order to better accomodate the heavy schedules of the airlines.

Although I agree that at the end of the day the pilots are to be held responsible, how many times have you flown into Chicago and thought "Gee- I wonder why they haven't turned the runways around..."

 

If you are operationally unable to comply with the configuration tell the controller. Most airplanes can accept a 10KT T/W for T/O and Landing. However if your wt. and performance prevent you from accepting such a clearance then YOU must tell someone. The controller doesn't fly the airplane the crew does.

With the exception of DEN this past winter how many times do airports close for weather? If you ask the airport they are always open, conditions may prevent a safe operation of the airplane but the airport remains technically open. Are you going to fly through a thunderstorm and then says "Gee- I wonder why they gave me a heading into a Tstorm?" Fly the plane until the chocks are in and don't let someone else fly it for you.

SWA has a culture of this type of "mission accomplished" attitude. Must be a Texas-s thing.