But Did That Make A Difference?

The Southwest captain whose Boeing 737 overran a snowy runway when landing at Chicago's Midway Airport last week said he had set the plane's autobraking system prior to touching down, according to NTSB investigators -- something that Southwest discourages pilots from doing.

The news would also appear to contradict an earlier statement, as was reported in Aero-News, by Southwest CEO Gary Kelly -- who stated the flight crew had opted to disconnect the autobrakes in order to give them a greater degree of control over the situation.

Investigators confirmed the switch for the autobrakes -- which deploy the brakes when the aircraft's landing gear settles onto the runway -- was set to "maximum" after the accident, according to the Chicago Sun-Times. Southwest Flight 1248 landed on Midway's 31-Center Thursday night, during a snowstorm and with a seven-knot quartering tailwind, according to the FAA Preliminary Report on the accident.

Use of the autobrakes goes against a Southwest Airlines policy intended to reduce the turnaround times for its jets, according to the Sun-Times, as the system heats the brakes to the point they require a longer cooling-off period before the plane is allowed to takeoff again. Southwest often aims for as little as a ten-minute turnaround time at the gate, which wouldn't give fully heated brakes enough time to cool off.

In addition to the ban on use of autobraking systems -- confirmed by Southwest spokewoman Linda Rutherford to the Sun-Times -- a former Southwest pilot told the paper pilots are told to slow their aircraft after landing to 80 knots by using the thrust reversers before touching the brakes -- all in the name of reducing time at the gate.

"Safety does not come into question," said Bert Yetman, now with the Professional Pilots Federation. "It's how long the runway is and how quick you want to turn around." 

As with all previous reports, the newest revelation into the accident seems to ask more questions than it answers.

"It's a really weird violation of Southwest policy..." said attorney Ron Stearney Jr. on the reports about the use of autobrakes. Stearney Jr. is representing the family of Joshua Woods, the six-year old boy who died when the airliner skidded onto a road and struck the car he was riding in.

"But did [the pilot] get the training to use that stuff when for all these years Southwest has prohibited pilots from doing so?" said the attorney. "I don't know. But the weather at Midway [Thursday] was the ultimate test, and what we had was Titanic syndrome -- relying on technology to buck Mother Nature."

The NTSB has yet to determine what role, if any, the use of the autobrakes may have had in last Thursday's accident. It is also not known how the use of the autobrakes may have been related, if at all, to earlier statements that there was a problem with the deployment of the aircraft's two thrust reversers.

FMI: www.ntsb.gov, www.southwest.com