SWA and safety at MDW

[magsau]

If it was what the tower reported, good braking and a minimal tailwind then even CAL lands at MDW in those conditions.

The article from the paper said that CAL would not land when SWA was authorized to land. Two different carriers with two different takes on the perf. Think it could have been the SWA use of TR's for determining stopping distance. If you take out the TR's under the same conditions what does your computer say? Land or not land?

It does appear that SWA was using the most literal interpetation of the perf. data. Perhaps Boeing will be liabel also. In the push to sale the NG's to SWA the manipulation of the data by both parties to make the airplane fit into the operation could be a suspect. CAL does not need the short field perf. and can afford to use the most conservative data. SWA on the other hand has taken the most liberal interpetation to assure operational integrity.

 

[corl737]

Perhaps Boeing will be liabel also. In the push to sale the NG's to SWA the manipulation of the data by both parties to make the airplane fit into the operation could be a suspect.

This will be a very interesting part of the liability equation.

I think more than just Boeing and SWA will be examined to determine consistency throughout the industry. Do you (or anyone else) have knowledge of what criteria Airbus, Embrarer, or Bombardier use in their latest performance data calculations? Was there a shift in industry policy as the reliability of TRs became virtually unquestionable?

 

[magsau]

Was there a shift in industry policy as the reliability of TRs became virtually unquestionable?

I may be wrong but the charts we have for the 767/757 do not take into account TR usage. I will check and see if the other fleets use TR data but I am pretty sure we do not.

 

[sfb]

The article from the paper said that CAL would not land when SWA was authorized to land. Two different carriers with two different takes on the perf.

Well, two different carriers also operating not-quite-identical equipment into MDW. Continental's mainline flights into MDW seem to be exclusively (at least, scheduled to be) Classic 737-300's and 737-500's which don't have quite the same performance characteristics as the 737-700 which was involved in Southwest's MDW incident.