Southwest passengers preparing to die in attempted landing

I bet the pilots looked like this as they were hand flying the approach

AA79E118-5CE5-4613-B6C3-B8DD7B06818D.gif
 
3fd0f72ecde2293bb2ba8a2516a8b8db.jpg
 
Those same panises would have been screaming just the same at Southwest has they diverted leaving the passengers stranded and not even tried to land.

I had a slight into Devner during a storm where we hit some heavy turbulence. Overhead bins opening, laptops gong airborne...people were LOOSING THEIR MINDS.

Meanwhile I had the biggest grin on my face enjoying the ride knowing what those plane can take. My biggest fear was being stuck on the plane with these people should we ever encounter an ACTUAL emergency!
 
Last edited:
One night, way back on a Braniff flight, I was in the roughest turbulence I've ever experience in an airliner. Pretty fun, though. I had a cup of ginger ale because that's what you always drink on a flight, and was holding it because we were bouncing too much to set it down. We dropped, fast, and I saw the contents of my cup levitating about 3-4 inches above the cup, in the exact shape of the cup, then we came back up and it all fit back in without spilling a drop - It was the coolest thing ever. I was having a great time until the two ladies sitting next to me figured we were all going to die and decided I needed to be "saved".
 
Well, they did end up diverting out of the stunt, so I'm not sure one could automatically assume maligning on the part of the pedestrians.I can empathize with the layperson in turbulence. They're not aficionados of this activity; they tend to be the types who would never board a light piston aircraft in the first place as a matter of principle. So it's not a stretch to see how collectively they'd be extra apprehensive during a rough approach on an airliner.

To be fair, it's not like SW pax don't have set precedent to hang their carry-ons from wrt their pilots getting "we're landing out of this"-itis in the past....:D
 
kayoh190 said:
Ugh...why didn’t I go work for UPS or FedEx?:D
Click to expand...

When I got my complex/HP/mountain checkout, my CFI was a freight pilot. I questioned the virtue of crossing the Sierras in mid July at peak heat in the afternoon ("Brace this hand on the roof and fly with the other hand.") His response is "I fly freight, we go low, in and out as quickly as possible."

It's comforting to know a Debonair will withstand forces that would have otherwise gave me a concussion.
 
Matthew said:
I had a cup of ginger ale because that's what you always drink on a flight,
Click to expand...

Ummmm. ????

Sac Arrow said:
It's comforting to know a Debonair will withstand forces that would have otherwise gave me a concussion.
Click to expand...

Whacked the hell out of myself into the headliner in the Skylane once. One big turbulence whack in the middle of a half an hour of light chop. Hurt like hell. Think there’s still a David Clark headband shaped dent in my head up there. Learned to crank my seat lower in turbulence.
 
hindsight2020 said:
To be fair, it's not like SW pax don't have set precedent to hang their carry-ons from wrt their pilots getting "we're landing out of this"-itis in the past....:D
Click to expand...
That wasn’t really a case of “we’re landing out of this”

It was more a case of an incompetent Captain (who no longer works for SWA) taking the controls from the FO below 200’, wiping all power out and driving the nose into the asphalt.

Had that Captain let the FO complete the landing, they would have been just fine.
 
Fearless Tower said:
That wasn’t really a case of “we’re landing out of this”

It was more a case of an incompetent Captain (who no longer works for SWA) taking the controls from the FO below 200’, wiping all power out and driving the nose into the asphalt.

Had that Captain let the FO complete the landing, they would have been just fine.
Click to expand...

I heard different. RUMINT from my SW peeps I heard was that this was a newhire FO (recent AF retiree, wasn't even done with consolidation) attempting the landing. He misjudged the landing height and rounded out high (it's clear by the video btw). More than couple potatoes went by and so he called his own go-around. That's when Captain-"we don't go-around @ the airlines" overrode his call, took control of the aircraft and nosed that guppy over like she was gonna miss her commute flight home. :eek:

The stunt was done too late in the botched high roundout, no airspeed left; the nose collapse all but writes itself at that point. It was my understanding it wasn't the nose-over that did her in, but the fact she dismissed the FO go-around call to add insult to injury. She also had a record of being combative/dismissive with FOs, so a bit of peer review went into that head shot.
 
Matthew said:
One night, way back on a Braniff flight, I was in the roughest turbulence I've ever experience in an airliner. Pretty fun, though. I had a cup of ginger ale because that's what you always drink on a flight, and was holding it because we were bouncing too much to set it down. We dropped, fast, and I saw the contents of my cup levitating about 3-4 inches above the cup, in the exact shape of the cup, then we came back up and it all fit back in without spilling a drop - It was the coolest thing ever. I was having a great time until the two ladies sitting next to me figured we were all going to die and decided I needed to be "saved".
Click to expand...
1.png
 
hindsight2020 said:
I heard different. RUMINT from my SW peeps I heard was that this was a newhire FO (recent AF retiree, wasn't even done with consolidation) attempting the landing. He misjudged the landing height and rounded out high (it's clear by the video btw). More than couple potatoes went by and so he called his own go-around. That's when Captain-"we don't go-around @ the airlines" overrode his call, took control of the aircraft and nosed that guppy over like she was gonna miss her commute flight home.

The stunt was done too late in the botched high roundout, no airspeed left; the nose collapse all but writes itself at that point. It was my understanding it wasn't the nose-over that did her in, but the fact she dismissed the FO go-around call to add insult to injury. She also had a record of being combative/dismissive with FOs, so a bit of peer review went into that head shot.
Click to expand...
The FO was a relatively new hire, but the Captain was on an internal FO ‘do not fly with list’. IOW, if you a senior enough FO, you didn’t bid those flights.

I read the NTSB report and CVR/FDR data.

I do not recall the FO making any mention of go-around on the CVR. The Captain WAS overly concerned about the runway length during the approach and at one point (below mins) the Captain actually pulled the throttles back all the way to idle and after that the Captain announced it was her airplane. Then when she tried to flare the nose just dropped. That is exactly what you see in that video.
 
Good grief, has Americans really become that wimpy..???

Now it will be off to the lawyers because someone has to pay me since I was scared.....

I would be suing other passengers for interrupting my sleep.....

I am surprised no one is blaming Southwest because they were also 4 hours late.
 
Zeldman said:
...Now it will be off to the lawyers because someone has to pay me since I was scared.....
Click to expand...

I can see it now: an army of lawyers, the Monday morning "me-too" contingent, scientific studies, T-shirts that say "I Survived SWA". There'll be a big article in Psychology Today. This new malady will get its own acronym: SWAPTSD.... ;););)
 
Zeldman said:
Good grief, has Americans really become that wimpy..???

...
Click to expand...

Yes.
People don't know what severe, or even moderate, turbulence is. I can't believe the reactions on some flight as the plane hits the top of the cloud layer on descent. A few burbles and people start gasping. They are like a flock of birds, one starts and the whole cabin starts twittering...
 
Last edited:
Zeldman said:
Yeah that was pretty cool...!!!

My remark was about the original subject.
Click to expand...

Remember, this is the society where the one reporter said he had severe trauma and fear after firing a rifle for the first time... :)
 
Hey, they should feel lucky. A SWA 737 had the engine "blowed up" today and it sucked a passenger "partially" out the window killing her.
 
GRG55 said:
Yes.
People don't know what severe, or even moderate, turbulence is. I can't believe the reactions on some flight as the plane hits the top of the cloud layer on descent. A few burbles and people start gasping. They are like a flock of birds, one starts and the whole cabin starts twittering...
Click to expand...


True. Was on a Horizon flight from Wenatchee to Seattle a number of years ago during the winter months. It's a short 30 minute flight. Was lumpy from 1500' until we landed. Ice coming off the prop blades and hitting the fuselage. FA stayed strapped in the whole flight (and I didn't even get my free beer!) . Half the people on the plane were upset and scared, Gal sitting next to me was almost in tears and would gasp in fear each time the plane dropped a bit. She asked why I seemed so calm and collected. I told her that the plane can handle the lumps and that the turbulence really wan't that bad. I laughed and told her that if she sees me or the FA (who was sitting within earshot) start to panic, THEN she could be scared. Seemed to calm down after that. Felt bad for the FA, some folks kept asking her if they were going to die. hahahaha
 
Southern Airways flight in the 70s - saw a stewardess hit the ceiling, then the floor - an agile gal, she bounced right up; people were screaming, praying, etc. Also a lot of those weird gasps people make when startled. It lasted about 30 minutes. This was "long period" stuff - long drops, then plus G pulls, like a long wooden roller coaster; not that more fun, "driving over railroad ties" you get on low-level routes. Anyway, the puking started, and became contagious; turned me into a mouth breather for the rest of the flight.
 
Most people in airplanes are terrified to be there. And, we're going to have pilotless airliners soon ? No way, Jose.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top