Southwest mishap

One of the passengers said the landing was unusually rough. I think the indications are some kind of landing gear failure, but there's not enough information to know what.

Airplane is/was a 737-700.

My mistake, the airplane was a 300. The replacement was a 700. Apparently the site I used to look up the type confused theorizing like with the replacement.
 
It looks to me that the mains are still intact. The left main is clearly visible and you can makeout part of the right main (though it is swallowed up by the ditch). The nose gear appears compromised as the nose is sitting flat on the ground. Don't know about whether that was first or happened as a result of Mr. Toad's wild ride.
 
Asked my wife and she said it would be unusual to blow an armed door without coordination with the crew, unless a passenger went rogue, but it happens I guess she stop an incident from happening a couple of days a go where cross check almost failed...I think it happens more than we know.
 
Guess I'm glad I've only been there at night!

Go look at the approach lighting system for 23 on google maps. It's elevated on a 200' catwalk system that looks like a railroad trestle. There is a street that runs underneath the catwalk that has Street View.
 
Good gawd. I'm going to go out on a limb and suggest that NoHeat understands that the slides deploy automatically.

Actually I did not know this technical detail. But thanks for your vote of confidence in me, even though I did not deserve it :)


His point was that SWA is not likely to terminate the pilots for evacuating the airplane....unlike a certain other airline with questionable management....


Yes, that was indeed my point.
 
Go look at the approach lighting system for 23 on google maps. It's elevated on a 200' catwalk system that looks like a railroad trestle. There is a street that runs underneath the catwalk that has Street View.

Holy Crap! That is one hell of a structure for some lights!
 
It looks like that T4 way runs right next to the runway - the one report said they touched down and the accident occurred. I wonder if by "taxing" they are referring to the period of time after touch down, but not quite off the runway yet and that may have been when it occurred and ended up in the ditch in between T4 and the runway?
 
It looks like that T4 way runs right next to the runway - the one report said they touched down and the accident occurred. I wonder if by "taxing" they are referring to the period of time after touch down, but not quite off the runway yet and that may have been when it occurred and ended up in the ditch in between T4 and the runway?
The second video on this news link has the security camera view. Unfortunately, it is chopped/edited by the news people, so hard to tell what really happened. It almost looks to me like they exited the runway and kept going straight ahead into the ditch (ie missed the turn), but the editing of the video may be misleading.

http://wkrn.com/2015/12/15/southwest-plane-slides-off-runway-at-nashville-airport/

The first video shows typical problems investigators have with eyewitnesses. The news interviews two passengers who were on the same plane. One says the landing was unusually hard and you knew something was wrong.....the other says the landing was smooth and then, after the landing something happened.
 
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They landed on 20R, not 13. BNA rarely lands on 13.
So what am I seeing in the security video? Is he coming down T3 and then misses the left turn onto T4? Is the ditch they ended up in in between J/L and T4/T5?

The security camera looks like it is taken from the top of the western corner of Concourse C looking toward the intersection of T3/T4.
 
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So what am I seeing in the security video? Is he coming down T3 and then misses the left turn onto T4? Is the ditch they ended up in in between J/L and T4/T5?
That's what it looks like to me. You can see the cargo ramp on the far side of 20R/2L in the background. What I can't see is any evidence of taxiway lighting. The nose taxi light is on but it really don't do that good of a job on a 737.
 
Looks like they were texting and drove it into a ditch. Not even going that fast.

Probably following the magenta line. :D
 
If they landed on 20R, is it possible they crossed 13/31 at T4? On my Jepp plate, it'd be really easy to think T4 goes straight across, but looking at Google Earth, there's a very clear dogleg to the left upon crossing 13/31. Could they have hurried across, missed the dogleg, and ended up in the ditch between T4 and T5?

Does that make any sense?
 
If they landed on 20R, is it possible they crossed 13/31 at T4? On my Jepp plate, it'd be really easy to think T4 goes straight across, but looking at Google Earth, there's a very clear dogleg to the left upon crossing 13/31. Could they have hurried across, missed the dogleg, and ended up in the ditch between T4 and T5?

Does that make any sense?
I am pretty sure they were coming off of T3. The ditch they ended up in is definitely the one in between J and L off T4. There is a photo of the airplane with the left wing right next to the t-way J sign.

When I first saw the video, it looked like they went straight ahead off of T3 and missed the turn onto T4, but the video is poorly edited. After looking at it a few times, it looks more like they DID initially turn left onto T4 and then made a quick right into the ditch which makes me think they were rushing, saw their gate and thought they were already entering the ramp, but that is just speculation on my part.
 
There was likely one pertinent question when he stepped onto the carpet, "Why weren't you on the taxi guide line?"
 
I am pretty sure they were coming off of T3. The ditch they ended up in is definitely the one in between J and L off T4. There is a photo of the airplane with the left wing right next to the t-way J sign.

Ahhh...I just now noticed the video. Interesting. What you're saying makes sense.
 
Ahhh...I just now noticed the video. Interesting. What you're saying makes sense.
One slight correction, I believe they ended up in the ditch between the ramp and taxiway J not the one between J and L.

I don't know what the forward/downward vis is like in a 737, but from where the Captain was sitting on the left side, he may have seen the gate as he turned onto T4 and not been able to see the taxiway edge lights on the ramp and thought he was clear to cut across.
 
So it's for sure a taxi f-up and the hard landing is not directly related?
 
I am pretty sure they were coming off of T3. The ditch they ended up in is definitely the one in between J and L off T4. There is a photo of the airplane with the left wing right next to the t-way J sign.

When I first saw the video, it looked like they went straight ahead off of T3 and missed the turn onto T4, but the video is poorly edited. After looking at it a few times, it looks more like they DID initially turn left onto T4 and then made a quick right into the ditch which makes me think they were rushing, saw their gate and thought they were already entering the ramp, but that is just speculation on my part.

A SWA crew hurrying the taxi? Naw, say it ain't so...:rofl:
 
A SWA crew hurrying the taxi? Naw, say it ain't so...:rofl:
Yeah, that is what I first thought - excessive taxi speed gets 'em, but the crappy editing of the video is really misleading. I don't know why the news idiots felt they needed to edit that.
 
So it's for sure a taxi f-up and the hard landing is not directly related?
I don't think there ever was a hard landing. There was one single witness interviewed by the news who said the landing was hard and you just 'knew' something was wrong. Other witnesses said the landing was just fine.

Where this incident occurred was well after landing and clear of the runway. One thing is clear about the video - they made an intentional turn off the taxiway into that ditch.
 
oops
for lease 737-300 pax. recent gear inspection. New slides installed. NDH.
contact 1800 IFLYSWA for more info
 
There's a big gully there, at least they didn't go into that, or take out a light pole. :)
 
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