Southwest B737 LGA 07/22/13

[GyvAir]

Thanks, J31; I see what you're talking about now. It's such a short choppy bit of video before the camera falls, I didn't really get much out of it on first watching.

Both wheels and one axle gone... something rather traumatic happened to that gear before it made its way through the belly.

[white_knuckle_flyer]

A reliable witness says that they tried to salvage a high approach and slammed the nose wheel down first.

Is this how you salvage a high approach ?

[pilotbzh]

Would that be 2 unstable approach leading to an accident in a row??? Swallow your pride go around, you don't pay for fuel do you...

[target]

On my last sim in the US last month with a US sim instructor. He advised us that a US plane has to be landed in a specific touch down zone ( could be 1500 ft long) or there is a possiblity of violation. Could be a reason for forcing the nose wheel on?

[boeingboy]

About 4 seconds before touchdown, the plane's pitch was about 2 degrees nose-up, the NTSB revealed. When the plane touched the runway, it was pitched down about 3 degrees, it said.


Oops - remember to keep both hands on the wheel kids!

[Troubleshot]

The National Transportation Safety Board today released factual information from the July 22 accident involving a Southwest Airlines Boeing 737-700 landing at New York's LaGuardia Airport. The airplanes front landing gear collapsed on landing.

-Evidence from video and other sources is consistent with the nose-gear making contact with the runway before the main landing gear.

-The flight data recorder on the airplane recorded 1,000 parameters and contained approximately 27 hours of recorded data, including the entire flight from Nashville to New York.

-The cockpit voice recorder contains a two-hour recording of excellent quality that captures the entire flight from Nashville to New York and the accident landing sequence.

-Flaps were set from 30 to 40 degrees about 56 seconds prior to touchdown.

-Altitude was about 32 feet, airspeed was about 134 knots, and pitch attitude was about 2 degrees nose-up approximately 4 seconds prior touchdown.

-At touchdown, the airspeed was approximately 133 knots and the aircraft was pitched down approximately 3 degrees.

-After touchdown, the aircraft came to a stop within approximately 19 seconds.

-A cockpit voice recorder group will convene tomorrow at NTSB laboratories in Washington to transcribe the relevant portion of the accident flight.

[jpilot77]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... crash.html

Why can't are NTSB release info as quickly as they do down south.

[Nark]

On my last sim in the US last month with a US sim instructor. He advised us that a US plane has to be landed in a specific touch down zone ( could be 1500 ft long) or there is a possiblity of violation. Could be a reason for forcing the nose wheel on?

There aren't any rules about touch down/landing. However every operations manual that's I've come across says you have to put her down in the touch down zone, or go around.

Policy, not regulation.

[pelmet]

While I have lowered the nose a bit in several Boeings to get a spot landing when needed due to a bit of float, it sounds like there was a large forward push on the control column in an attempt to do so here. Should be more of a release of back pressure I would say and I wouldn't do it more than very close to the ground.

[cdnpilot77]

Seems southwest doesn't like their pilots to land nose wheel first, what's their problem?

From CNN:

New York (CNN) -- The captain of a Southwest Airlines flight that made a hard landing at LaGuardia Airport in New York in July has been fired, a spokeswoman for the airline said Wednesday.
The Boeing 737-700 aircraft landed nose wheels first, causing the nose gear to collapse. About 10 passengers were injured.
The captain -- who had flown with the airline for 13 years -- had taken control of the plane from his co-pilot when the aircraft was below 400 feet, a critical phase of flight in which experts say control is rarely changed between pilots.
The first officer will undergo additional training, Southwest spokeswoman Michelle Agnew said.
Neither pilot was identified by name.
The Southwest Airlines Pilots' Association said Wednesday that it was disappointed by the decision and would ensure that the fired pilot receives the right to due process.
The union said it was involved in the ongoing federal investigation over the probable cause of the incident.
"It is yet to be completed," the union said in a statement. "The purpose of such an investigation is not to assign blame but ensure the prevention of a recurrence. Similar to Southwest Airlines, we will not discuss specifics regarding active employee relations events and active investigations.
"All Southwest Airlines pilots demonstrate their qualifications in periodic recurrent training and take pride in our rule to operate our aircraft safely on over 3,400 flights per day."