NTSB faults SWA, pilots
 

Are they still paid by the trip???

"I don't have to have my airline hand-holding me," he said. "We can't totally fault Southwest Airlines for not providing guidance to this crew. We can blame the airline if we like. I'm more apt to blame the flight crew."

Even if the policy of not landing on a slippery runway with a tailwind was not in their company manual, common sense should have told the pilots not to do it. Pilot error, plain and simple.

Agreed. I guess that falls in the mentality of getting the job done.

Guys, its so easy to look back at this and say, "I wouldn't have done that" etc, But how many times have you found yourself in a situation that potentially could have took a turn for the worst, by circumstances you have little or no control over? Snow, and a short runway is obviously a concern, but maybe the wind picked up slighty as they were on short final?, or floated just a few seconds too long, where the aircraft ahead of them stopped fine, just minutes before. I am just saying, this job is very dynamic and there are factors that affect everything performance wise, and they change .

How many times have you sat through a CRM class and think, "I would never do that". I am sure the pilots involved in these instances thought the same thing, We have to do our best to minimize the risk, but there is always risk involved

wow something intelligent and insightfull from saab i'm impressed

Not gonna Monday morning q/back....but if U should happen to work for a major airline....get a wind-check if the runway is contaminated. My top-gun days are a decade behind me so.........I don't take chances for the airline or to feed my well-nourished ego. Southwest will probably take care of these guys, it's in their best interest, but remember that the airlines hate you and your salary. Be hard pressed to challenge yourself for guys who never had 2.

haha thanks bud, yeah I live by the "When in doubt Chicken out" motto when it comes to flying, but every now and again I catch myself, even after the fact sometimes when I could have probably made a better decision...

i hear ya .

Only the pre-lim report is posted on the NTSB website.

Until everything is posted, it is pre-mature to grossly heckle the pilots.
At the same time, I think the vast majority of people would agree that landing on a relatively short field, contaminated, w/ a tailwind isn't a great idea.

Also, if memory serves me right, the pilots had some data that indicated that they could stop on the field under the conditions they were told of.....but, the braking action was actually closer to nil than it was fair or poor.

And w/ nil, wasn't a chance in hell they could have stopped it, don't think even a brick one landing would have given them enough runway.


Almost any other airline would be hanging these guys out to dry....it's get it done, move the pax, but if anything goes wrong.....it's safety is job 1-can't believe our pilots hung it out like that, we would have totally supported their decision to divert. Bottom line, our pilots are encouraged to do the right thing.....just a pilot problem, not a corporate culture problem