Southwest Flight 31 from Houston to Nashville suffered some type of equipment failure upon landing at Nashville’s BNA airport on Tuesday, December 15th. While it is unclear how the Boeing 737 ended up in a ditch along the runway, we do know that several people were injured in the incident. There were 133 passengers aboard and 5 crewmembers. Early statements contradict each other with some reporting a tire blowing out and others stating the landing gear failed. The NTSB and FAA will be on the ground today investigating the accident and there is no doubt the underlying reason for the accident will be found. The FAA has released a video of the accident.

Keith Williams, Founder of Keith Williams Law Group in Nashville has been retained by several passengers of Southwest Flight 345, which originated in Nashville and endured a “hard landing” on July 22, 2013 at LaGuardia Airport. When the plane touched down on its nose gear, instead of on its main landing gear, the nose gear collapsed. The plane bounced violently several times and then skidded down the runway until coming to a stop in the grass and the passengers were evacuated by the emergency chutes. Several passengers were treated at the hospital and on scene for physical trauma, while many more suffered anxiety related trauma. The NTSB has released its final report and it found that pilot error on several levels contributed to the crash.

According to Keith, “It is too early to speculate as to how Flight 31 ended up in a ditch at BNA in Nashville. However, during my investigation into my clients’ cases in the Flight 345 accident, I was alarmed by the findings of the NTSB final report. In addition to identifying pilot error as the cause of the accident, it stated that pilot’s choose to go through with landings that are considered unsafe 97% of the time instead of electing to do a “fly-around” and trying the landing again. That type of flagrant disregard for the safety of the public cannot be tolerated in our society.”