Southwest Airlines Flight 345

Southwest Airlines Flight 345 was a scheduled flight from Nashville International Airport, Tennessee, to New York City's LaGuardia Airport. On July 22, 2013, the Boeing 737 operating the route suffered a front landing gear collapse while landing at LaGuardia Airport, injuring 9 people on board.[1] The aircraft, which was worth an estimated $15.5 million at the time, was written off and scrapped as a result of the accident.[2]

Southwest Airlines Flight 345
The Boeing 737 involved, after evacuation, with emergency slides deployed
Accident
DateJuly 22, 2013 (2013-07-22)
SummaryLanding gear collapse on landing due to pilot error
SiteLaGuardia Airport, New York City, United States
40°46′29″N 73°52′44″W
Aircraft
Aircraft typeBoeing 737-7H4
OperatorSouthwest Airlines
IATA flight No.WN345
ICAO flight No.SWA345
Call signSOUTHWEST 345
RegistrationN753SW
Flight originNashville International Airport, Tennessee, United States
DestinationLaGuardia Airport, New York City, United States
Occupants150
Passengers145
Crew5
Fatalities0
Injuries9
Survivors150

Accident
NTSB file photo, showing the extent of the damage to the electronics bay, with the collapsed nose gear jammed into it, only the right axle attached

The aircraft landed on runway 4 with its nose landing gear touching down prior to the main landing gear.[3] The aircraft's nose gear collapsed upward into the body of the aircraft, causing substantial damage to the avionics electronics bay in the fuselage.[4][5][6] The aircraft slid 2,175 feet (663 m) on its nose along the runway, arresting off to the right of the runway pavement.[5] The plane came to a stop halfway down the runway[7] after skidding on its nose in a sea of sparks.[8]

As a result of the crash, the two-runway airport was closed until its rescue assets were available again. Two hours later, the airport's other runway reopened for traffic. The airport cleared and inspected the affected runway, and removed the aircraft in time for the earliest next day departures.[7][8] Nine occupants were treated for minor injuries,[4] all sustained during evacuation,[5] six of whom were taken to local hospitals.[8]

Aircraft and crew

The aircraft (built in 2000) was a 13-year-old Boeing 737-700, registration number N753SW, owned and operated by Southwest Airlines.[1][4][7]

Flight 345's captain had flown for Southwest Airlines for nearly 13 years, six years in the rank as captain.[9] At the time of the accident, she had a total of 12,000 hours of flight time, including 2,600 flight hours as captain of a Boeing 737.[10]

The first officer had 20 years of prior experience in the United States Air Force and had been hired by Southwest Airlines a year and a half before the accident.[10]

Investigation

On July 26, 2013, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) issued a press release disclosing its initial findings, which included:

  • The cockpit voice recorder recorded 2 hours of good data, including the full duration of the last flight from Nashville to New York City.
  • The flight data recorder provided 27 hours of data, including all parameters for the last flight from Nashville to New York City.
  • From the flight data recorder download:
    • The flaps were changed from 30 degrees to 40 degrees 56 seconds before touchdown.
    • The aircraft flared reaching 134 Knots Indicated Airspeed (KIAS) and an attitude of 2 degrees nose-up at 32 ft (9.8 m) above ground level (AGL), then 4 seconds later dropped the nose to 3 degrees nose-down at 133 KIAS at touchdown.
    • The aircraft came to rest 19 seconds after touchdown.
  • Both the obtained flight data and the available video record have the nose gear making contact with the ground before the main landing gear did, which is the opposite order from the normal landing sequence.[3][5]

No mechanical malfunctions were found, but the nose landing gear collapsed due to stress overload.[11] The NTSB's investigation became focused on the behavior of the flight crew during Flight 345's approach into LaGuardia Airport.[9][10] The NTSB discovered that Flight 345's captain had been the subject of multiple complaints by first officers who had flown with her.[9] Southwest's flight operations manual requires its pilots to abort a landing if the plane is not properly configured by the time it descends to 1,000 ft (300 m).[10] Analyzing flight recorder data, the NTSB determined that the captain had changed the airplane's flaps from 30 degrees to 40 degrees at an altitude of only 500 ft (150 m).[10] At 100–200 ft (30–61 m), the captain observed that the plane was still above the glide slope, and ordered the first officer to "get down" instead of aborting the landing.[10] At an altitude of only 27 ft (8.2 m) and 3 seconds from touching down, the captain took control of the aircraft from the first officer.[10] The plane was descending at 960 ft/min (4.9 m/s) in a nose-down position when its nose wheel struck the runway.[10]

The NTSB ultimately concluded that the crash was due to pilot error. Specifically, the NTSB faulted the captain for failing to take control of the aircraft or abort the landing earlier, noting that the captain had warnings at 500 ft (150 m) (due to the flaps misconfiguration) and at 100–200 ft (30–61 m) (when the captain observed the plane was above the glide slope) and could have aborted the landing at that time. The NTSB determined that the captain's failure to take control until the plane had descended to only 27 ft (8.2 m) "did not allow her adequate time to correct the airplane's deteriorating energy state and prevent the nose landing gear from striking the runway."[10]

Aftermath

On October 2, 2013, Southwest Airlines announced that it had fired Flight 345's captain. The airline also announced that it was requiring Flight 345's first officer to undergo additional training.[12][13] Neither pilot was publicly identified by the airline.[13]

The Boeing 737 involved in the accident, worth an estimated $15.5 million at the time, was found to be too extensively damaged to be repaired and was written off as a total loss.[2] The aircraft was ultimately removed from LaGuardia Airport via barge to the Port of Albany (New York) in November 2013, where the airframe was broken up by a salvage dealer at the Port of Albany in March 2014, with some parts trucked to Owego for final destruction.[14][15] The accident represents the third hull loss of a Boeing 737-700.[4]

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References

 This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the National Transportation Safety Board.

  1. "Human Performance" (PDF). Group Chairman's Factual Report. National Transportation Safety Board. September 5, 2014. DCA13FA131. Archived (PDF) from the original on September 4, 2016.
  2. Maxon, Terry. "Remember that Southwest Airlines jet that slid down the runway? It won't be flying again". The Dallas Morning News. Retrieved August 8, 2016.
  3. "NTSB Issues Investigative Update into Southwest Flight 345 Accident at LaGuardia Airport in New York" (Press release). National Transportation Safety Board. July 25, 2013.
  4. Ranter, Harro (July 22, 2013). "Accident description (Type: Boeing 737-7H4 (WL), Operator: Southwest Airlines, Registration: N753SW)". Aviation Safety Network (ASN). Flight Safety Foundation (http://www.flightsafety.org). Retrieved August 28, 2013.
  5. Hradecky, Simon (July 25, 2013). "Accident: Southwest B737 at New York on Jul 22nd 2013, nose gear collapse on landing". The Aviation Herald. Canada. Retrieved August 28, 2013.
  6. Pearce, Matt (July 23, 2013). "Landing gear punched into Southwest 737 jet on landing, NTSB says". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved August 28, 2013.
  7. "Flight's nose gear collapses as it lands at New York's LaGuardia". BBC News. BBC. July 22, 2013. Retrieved August 28, 2013.
  8. Susman, Tina (July 22, 2013). "Southwest jet's landing gear collapses on landing, injuring 10". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved August 28, 2013.
  9. "Pilots Didn't Want to Fly With Capt. Who Crash-Landed SW Flight 345". Seattle Post-Intelligencer. November 12, 2014. Retrieved August 8, 2016.
  10. "NTSB: Southwest nose landing at LaGuardia was captain's fault". USA Today. July 27, 2015. Retrieved September 6, 2016.
  11. Maxon, Terry (August 6, 2013). "NTSB captain took over Southwest Airlines flight just before landing at New York LaGuardia". The Dallas Morning News. Retrieved August 7, 2016.
  12. "Southwest fires pilot whose nosedive landing at LaGuardia Airport injured 16". New York Daily News. October 2, 2013. Retrieved August 8, 2016.
  13. "Southwest Airlines fires captain involved in rough NYC landing". NBC News. October 2, 2013. Retrieved August 10, 2016.
  14. "Albany scrap yard prepares Southwest jet for shredding". Retrieved August 8, 2016.
  15. "Scrap mogul eyeing rival". Retrieved August 8, 2016.

National Transportation Safety Board

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