Southwest Airlines Flight 1455

Infobox Airliner accident|name=Southwest Airlines Flight 1455
Date=March 5 2000
Crash
|360px
Image caption = Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport runways at the time of incident
Type=Overrun
Site=Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport,
Burbank, California
Fatalities=0
Injuries=44
Aircraft Type=Boeing 737-3T5
Operator=Southwest Airlines
Tail Number=airreg|N|668SW|disaster cite web
title = N-number Inquiry Results
publisher = United States Federal Aviation Administration
date = 2006-12-07
url = http://registry.faa.gov/aircraftinquiry/NNumSQL.asp?NNumbertxt=286WN
format = HTML
accessdate = 2006-12-07 ]
Passengers=137
Crew=5
Survivors = 142(all)

Southwest Airlines Flight 1455 (N668SW) was a scheduled passenger flight from
McCarran International Airport (KLAS), Las Vegas, Nevada to Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport (BUR), Burbank, California that overran the runway during landing.

Accident Summary

On March 5 2000 at 6:11pm Pacific Standard Time Southwest Flight 1455, a Boeing 737-3T5, overran the end of the runway while landing at Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport. It crashed through a metal blast wall and then through the airport perimeter wall and came to rest on Hollywood Way, a four-lane city street, near a Chevron gas station. Of the 142 airplane occupants, 2 received serious injuries, and 42 received minor injuries.

The NTSB concluded that the probable cause for the accident was excessive flight speed and too high of a glidepath, and the flight crew's failure to abort the approach when conditions were not met for a stable landing. Additional responsibility was placed on the flight controller's positioning of the airplane as it approached the airport.

Months later, the pilots were fired as a result of this incident.cite news
work=Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News
date=2000-08-02
author=Lunsford, J. Lynn
title= Southwest Airlines Fires Pilot, Co-Pilot Involved in Burbank, Calif., Crash.
quote=The airline fired the pilots after completing an internal investigation of the March 5 crash of Flight 1455, which was the first major accident in Southwest's 29-year history.] Southwest Airlines admitted the pilots' actions were negligent. [cite news
title=Southwest Concedes Pilot Negligence
author=Associated Press
date=2001-10-08
quote=Southwest Airlines is willing to concede its fired pilots were negligent when a jet skidded off a runway and onto a street during a botched landing at Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport last year, the airline's attorney said.]

At the time, a Southwest spokesperson termed it "the worst accident" in the airline's history. [ [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4196/is_20000307/ai_n10593423 "Runaway jet that narrowly missed gas station triggers talk of what-ifs" Milwaukee Journal Sentinel] ] Air safety experts and pilots suggested the incident was an example of a situation where "fast, steep, unstabilized approaches" are dangerous, and of how inadequate the safety margins around the Burbank runways are (as well as similar U.S. airports). [ [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0UBT/is_33_16/ai_90755713 "Overrun Highlights Hazard of Unstabilized Approaches" Air Safety Week] ]

The gas station missed by the aircraft was later closed and demolished due to safety concerns.

Flight Details

Flight 1455 departed McCarran International Airport (LAS), Las Vegas, Nevada at 1650, more than 2 hours behind schedule due to inclement weather in the area. At 1804:02, when the aircraft was convert|19|nmi|km|abbr=on north of the BUR outer marker, the SCT controller instructed the aircraft to maintain convert|230|kn|km/h or greater until further notice. The controller later indicated this was to place the aircraft into the approach pattern between two other flights. The captain acknowledged the instructions.

At 1804:42 the first officer informed the captain that the target airspeed for landing would be convert|138|kn|km/h. This value was based on standard procedures in the Southwest Airlines Flight Operations Manual (FOM). At 1805:13 the captain told the first officer that the air traffic controller had instructed them to remain at convert|230|kn|km/h or greater "for a while."

At 1805:54 the controller cleared Flight 1455 to descend to Convert|5000|ft|m|-2, and at 1807 cleared the flight to descend to Convert|3000|ft|m|-2. At 1808 the controller cleared flight 1455 for a visual approach to runway 8 with a restriction to remain at or above 3,000 ft (above mean sea level) until passing the Van Nuys very high frequency omnidirectional range (VOR) beacon. This navigational aid is approximately Convert|6|mi|km|0 from the runway. Radar data suggest that the flight began its descent from convert|3000|ft|m|abbr=on about Convert|4|mi|km|0|abbr=on|abbr=on|abbr=on|abbr=on from the runway. [cite web
url=http://www.ntsb.gov/PressRel/2000/000307.htm
publisher=National Transportation Safety Board
date=2000-03-07
accessdate=2007-06-16
title=Statement By Chairman Jim Hall on the NTSB Investigation of the Runway Overrun Accident Involving Southwest Airlines Flight 1455]

According to the Aeronautical Information Manual, Section 4-4-11, this approach clearance automatically canceled any previous speed assignments. According to the final accident report, traffic conditions no longer warranted the speed assignment after the controller cleared the flight to descend to convert|3000|ft|m|abbr=on, but the controller did not verbally cancel the speed assignment.

Contributing to the unstable attitude of the aircraft were controller instructions which placed the aircraft in an unfavorable position for final approach. The NTSB concluded that the controller positioned the aircraft too fast, too high, and too close to the runway threshold, although any of these factors could have been compensated for by the pilots.

Southwest Airlines procedures instruct the pilot not flying to make altitude call-outs at 1000, 500, 400, 300, 200, 100, 50, 30, and convert|10|ft|m. Additionally, call-outs are required if certain parameters are not met, in this case flight speed and sink rate. At 1809:32, one minute and thirteen seconds after approach clearance was given, and at convert|3000|ft|m of altitude, the captain began to slow the aircraft by deploying the flaps.

At 1810:24 the ground proximity warning system (GPWS) began to sound a "sink rate" warning in the cockpit. The aircraft was descending at an angle of 7 degrees, when the angle of descent for most aircraft landing on that runway was 3 or 4 degrees. Both pilots ignored the warnings. At 1810:44 the warning system in the cockpit began to sound. The captain responded to these warnings with "that's all right."

The captain stated after the accident that he knew as the aircraft passed convert|500|ft|m that he was not "in the slot", meaning the conditions had not been met for a safe landing, in this case because of an excessive airspeed. The captain further stated that he understood that if he was not "in the slot", procedures demanded a go-around maneuver to abort the landing. He could not explain why he did not perform a go-around maneuver. The first officer likewise indicated after the accident that he was aware that they were not "in the slot", but said he believed the captain was taking corrective action.

The aircraft touched down on the wet runway at about 182 knots, convert|44|kn|km/h over the target airspeed. Furthermore, it touched down convert|2150|ft|m from the runway threshold, convert|650|ft|m beyond the 1000-1500 ft range established by the Southwest Airlines FOM. The captain deployed the thrust reversers and then he and the first officer applied manual brakes, but according to the NTSB findings, under those conditions even maximum braking would not have prevented the aircraft from overrunning the end of the runway.

The NTSB released a transcript of the cockpit voice recorder where the flight's Captain, Howard Peterson, was quoted as saying "Well, there goes my career." moments after the accident. [cite news
work=Daily News of Los Angeles (CA)
date=2001-07-11
title='My Fault,' Pilot Admits in Burbank Jet Mishap
quote='Well, there goes my career.' Those prophetic words were uttered by Capt. Howard Peterson on March 5, 2000, moments after his Southwest Airlines jetliner overshot a rain-slicked runway at Burbank Airport, crashed through a fence and skidded to within yards of a gas station on Hollywood Way.]

Injuries

Of the 142 persons on board, 2 passengers sustained serious injuries; 41 passengers and the captain sustained minor injuries; and 94 passengers, 3 flight attendants, and the first officer sustained no injuries. The airplane sustained extensive exterior damage and some internal damage to the passenger cabin. During the accident sequence, the forward service door (1R) escape slide inflated inside the airplane; the nose gear collapsed; and the forward dual flight attendant jumpseat, which was occupied by two flight attendants, partially collapsed.

The inflated escape slide blocked both forward doors from being used to evacuate the aircraft, and prevented two flight attendants seated on the forward jumpseat from assisting the evacuation. There was no fire, but had there been a fire, this malfunctioning slide would have dramatically affected the survivability of the occupants. As a result of this occurrence, the NTSB issued a safety recommendation to replace the slide cover latch brackets on forward slide compartments of all older Boeing 737 models to the latch brackets installed on later models.

As with runway 4R/22L at the Little Rock National Airport, site of the American Airlines Flight 1420 overrun accident, runway 8/26 in Burbank was exempt from the convert|1000|ft|m|sing=on runway safety area standard. The NTSB cited this accident in a recommendation for installing the Engineered Materials Arrestor System (EMAS) at airports where it is not feasible to establish the convert|1000|ft|m|sing=on runway safety area (RSA). [cite web
url=http://www.ntsb.gov/recs/letters/2001/A01_49_70.pdf
title=NTSB Safety Recommendation A-01-49 through -70
date=2001-12-10
accessdate=2007-06-15] A US$4,000,000 EMAS subsequently installed as a result of this accident at this airport, now the Bob Hope Airport, stopped a private jet carrying New York Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez on Friday, October 13, 2006 with no injuries or aircraft damage. [cite news
url=http://www.topix.net/content/trb/0675441353170080772340390497490364063074
title=Yankee Player's Jet Overruns Runway in Burbank
first=Jennifer
last=Oldham
work=Los Angeles Times
date=2006-10-14
quote=The airport installed the $4-million safety system after a Southwest Airlines Boeing 737 skidded off the same runway and onto a street in 2000, injuring 43 passengers and the captain.]

Dispute with City of Burbank

Burbank city officials demanded that Southwest Airlines pay their $40,000 bill for services, including overtime for police officers and firefighters, related to the March 5 accident. Southwest refused to pay stating that they are entitled to emergency services since they pay taxes to the city. [cite news
work=Daily News of Los Angeles (CA)
first=Sylvia L.
last=Oliande
title=Airline Balks at Bill in Skid : Southwest: Taxes Should Cover Tab
date=2001-02-22
quote=City officials said Wednesday they will likely continue to push Southwest to pay the $40,000 bill for services, including overtime for police officers and firefighters, provided in the wake of the March 5 mishap.]

References

*cite web
title = Aviation Accident Brief NTSB/AAB-02/04
publisher = National Transportation Safety Board
date = June 26, 2002
url = http://www.ntsb.gov/publictn/2002/AAB0204.htm
format =
doi =
accessdate = 2007-01-16

ee also

*Southwest Airlines Flight 1248 — Chicago Midway International Airport overrun accident on December 8, 2005.
*Runway safety area
*Engineered materials arrestor system
*Ground effect in aircraft

External links

* [http://www.airdisaster.com/eyewitness/wn1455.shtml Eyewitness Report: Southwest Airlines 1455] with photos