Post by MJSUNIFC on Dec 9, 2005 16:01:48 GMT -5
NBC, MSNBC and news services
Updated: 1:38 p.m. ET Dec. 9, 2005
CHICAGO - At first, the passengers aboard the Southwest flight arriving amid heavy snow at Midway International Airport thought it was a normal landing. Then there was a jolt — and the plane was in the street.
Flight 1248 from Baltimore with more than 100 people aboard touched down around 7:15 p.m. Thursday. Though the airport had about 7 inches of snow, aviation officials said conditions at the time were acceptable.
The plane went off the end of the runway and slammed through a fence before it struck two vehicles, pinning one beneath it. A boy who died, one of five people in the pinned car, was identified as Joshua Woods of Leroy, Ind., said Sandra Flowers of the Cook County Medical Examiner’s office.
The four people who were in the vehicle with the boy were hospitalized Friday at Advocate Christ Medical Center, and two of them, including a child, were in serious condition.
"The Southwest family is grieving over the loss and our thoughts go out to the family," Southwest CEO Gary Kelly said at a press conference Friday morning.
Three people from the other car were treated and released and a fourth was in good condition at Holy Cross Hospital, spokeswoman Michelle Boyd said. The two plane passengers were treated and released at MacNeal Hospital, along with tow truck driver who stopped to help and aggravated an old injury.
"This is a sad day for us here," Kelly said. "[There are] no words to convey the grief and sadness."
Passengers' accounts
Flight data and thingypit voice recorders were removed from the plane and were being sent to Washington for analysis, a National Transportation Safety Board investigator said.
Passenger Mike Abate, 35, of suburban Milwaukee, said he could see from the plane that a man was carrying an injured child and that other people were taken away in an ambulance.
“We were safe on the plane,” Abate said. “The toughest part was to realize that someone was under the belly of the plane.”
The Boeing 737, nose resting on the ground, and the vehicles remained in the street Friday morning. NTSB investigators were on scene.
At a briefing, NTSB board member Ellen Engleman Conners stressed that a variety of factors need to be looked at before any cause is determined.
“Often, the first guess is not correct,” Conners said. “So, we’re not going to guess. We’re going to focus on facts and science and data.” Among other things, routine toxicology tests on the pilots were planned, she said.
Southwest's Kelly said the plane had circled Midway for 30 to 35 minutes because of the weather and the flight traffic before it was cleared for landing on the airport’s 6,500-foot runway.
The airport, surrounded by homes and businesses, has shorter runways than most major airports, because it was originally built to handle smaller propeller planes. The larger ones land at O’Hare.
“There are no indications that there are any maintenance problems with that aircraft whatsoever,” Kelly said. He said the plane had a service check Wednesday in Phoenix.
The crash closed the airport, Chicago’s second largest after O’Hare International. Midway reopened around 6 a.m. Friday, and authorities said at least 600 people were stranded because of canceled flights.
Plane severely damaged
Five crew and 98 passengers were aboard the plane, authorities said. Most were evacuated through the plane’s inflatable slides in blowing snow, while others used stairs at the rear of the plane, said Chicago Fire Department Spokesman Larry Langford.
The plane’s nose was crushed, and a severely damaged engine was on the ground, he said.
“I saw snow rush over the wing, then there was a big bump,” said passenger Larry Vazzano, 54, of Baltimore. “I braced myself on the seat in front of me.”
click on link for more of this report
www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10388519/
Updated: 1:38 p.m. ET Dec. 9, 2005
CHICAGO - At first, the passengers aboard the Southwest flight arriving amid heavy snow at Midway International Airport thought it was a normal landing. Then there was a jolt — and the plane was in the street.
Flight 1248 from Baltimore with more than 100 people aboard touched down around 7:15 p.m. Thursday. Though the airport had about 7 inches of snow, aviation officials said conditions at the time were acceptable.
The plane went off the end of the runway and slammed through a fence before it struck two vehicles, pinning one beneath it. A boy who died, one of five people in the pinned car, was identified as Joshua Woods of Leroy, Ind., said Sandra Flowers of the Cook County Medical Examiner’s office.
The four people who were in the vehicle with the boy were hospitalized Friday at Advocate Christ Medical Center, and two of them, including a child, were in serious condition.
"The Southwest family is grieving over the loss and our thoughts go out to the family," Southwest CEO Gary Kelly said at a press conference Friday morning.
Three people from the other car were treated and released and a fourth was in good condition at Holy Cross Hospital, spokeswoman Michelle Boyd said. The two plane passengers were treated and released at MacNeal Hospital, along with tow truck driver who stopped to help and aggravated an old injury.
"This is a sad day for us here," Kelly said. "[There are] no words to convey the grief and sadness."
Passengers' accounts
Flight data and thingypit voice recorders were removed from the plane and were being sent to Washington for analysis, a National Transportation Safety Board investigator said.
Passenger Mike Abate, 35, of suburban Milwaukee, said he could see from the plane that a man was carrying an injured child and that other people were taken away in an ambulance.
“We were safe on the plane,” Abate said. “The toughest part was to realize that someone was under the belly of the plane.”
The Boeing 737, nose resting on the ground, and the vehicles remained in the street Friday morning. NTSB investigators were on scene.
At a briefing, NTSB board member Ellen Engleman Conners stressed that a variety of factors need to be looked at before any cause is determined.
“Often, the first guess is not correct,” Conners said. “So, we’re not going to guess. We’re going to focus on facts and science and data.” Among other things, routine toxicology tests on the pilots were planned, she said.
Southwest's Kelly said the plane had circled Midway for 30 to 35 minutes because of the weather and the flight traffic before it was cleared for landing on the airport’s 6,500-foot runway.
The airport, surrounded by homes and businesses, has shorter runways than most major airports, because it was originally built to handle smaller propeller planes. The larger ones land at O’Hare.
“There are no indications that there are any maintenance problems with that aircraft whatsoever,” Kelly said. He said the plane had a service check Wednesday in Phoenix.
The crash closed the airport, Chicago’s second largest after O’Hare International. Midway reopened around 6 a.m. Friday, and authorities said at least 600 people were stranded because of canceled flights.
Plane severely damaged
Five crew and 98 passengers were aboard the plane, authorities said. Most were evacuated through the plane’s inflatable slides in blowing snow, while others used stairs at the rear of the plane, said Chicago Fire Department Spokesman Larry Langford.
The plane’s nose was crushed, and a severely damaged engine was on the ground, he said.
“I saw snow rush over the wing, then there was a big bump,” said passenger Larry Vazzano, 54, of Baltimore. “I braced myself on the seat in front of me.”
click on link for more of this report
www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10388519/