Description

On 8 December 2005, a Boeing 737-700 being operated by Southwest Airlines on a scheduled passenger flight from Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport to Chicago Midway made a tailwind landing on a slippery Runway 31C in normal visibility at night and ran off the end of the runway. It exited the airport perimeter fence and ended up on adjacent road, where it struck a car before coming to a stop. An emergency evacuation was made using the forward left and the right rear cabin doors. 18 of the 103 occupants received minor injuries and the aircraft was substantially damaged. One car occupant was killed, one seriously injured and three others received minor injuries. The picture below, taken from the official NTSB report, shows the aircraft in its final resting position. The aircraft was substantially damaged but repairable.

Investigation

An investigation was carried out by the National Transportation Safety Board (USA) (NTSB). It was noted that the aircraft commander was PF for the flight whilst en route, believing that the Company’s new autobrake procedures were applicable from the day of the accident, the flight crew reviewed and discussed them while en route to Chicago. It was noted that the accident landing was the first time either pilot had landed using autobrakes in either an aircraft or a simulator and that their aircraft type ratings covered all three 737 variants used by Southwest, the ’legacy’ -300 and -500 and the ‘NG’ -700.