In other news, I'm sure everyone has heard about the Southwest crash at MDW. Apparently the plane was landing on 31C while it was snowing fairly hard (1/2 mile vis) and ran off the end, through a fence, and onto Central Avenue. One young boy (not a passenger) was killed, making this the first fatal crash at a US major airline in over 4 years. I think my buddy Glenn would tell you that 6500' is a fairly tight runway for a 737 under normal conditions; with a contaminated runway, everything needs to be done just right. I'm not saying this to absolve the pilots of blame, just to preempt the inevitible comparisons to Southwest's Burbank accident.
Incidently, I once watched a 727 come within inches of taking out that fence on takeoff at MDW. Must've been pretty heavy!
Update: It was a gorgeous day here in the Pacific Northwest, and the snow was perfect. An excellent day to go skiing!
6 comments:
Hi Sam,
Really enjoy reading your blog, I used to work for UA and really miss the life. One thing though, another airline blogger - Silver Tree - just got canned today because of her blog. She made the film, "The Aviary," about United flight attendants. Maybe your shouldn't name your employer?
Caroline
Great pics Sam! Were you able to go skiing? We still have a touch of snow left over here in the city but it's melting fast as our highs the last couple of days have been in the 40's.
Colorado Springs...it's gorgeous here!
Sam - Hope it works out for you! I have to say I love reading pilot - FA blogs. It really reminds me of my own happy (and then not-so-happy) days at UA.
Take care and happy flying....
Caroline
Flygirl, I love the Springs! Heh, ya know the little road that goes from Canon City to Victor and then down into the Springs? I once took it in a Olds Cutlass in winter and somehow made it! I DID have to dig the car out of a snowbank at one point but fortunately didn't slide off the road on the other side as there was a 200-300 foot dropoff...
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