Two years after the accident that left several passengers injured, the NTSB has released its report on the cause of the Southwest 345 “hard landing” and it shows it was pilot error. It also shows that the plane did land nose gear first, which is a point that many in the aviation field have argued since the incident, stating that the rear landing gear hit first. When the nose gear hit first, it absorbed the full force of the landing of the huge Boeing 737 jet and collapsed into the engine bay. The jet finally came to a stop but not before several people suffered injury and trauma. The finding of pilot error, which we will look into a little further later in the article, comes with the chilling confirmation by the International Air Safety Summit that 97% of unstable approaches are followed through for a landing despite the fact that all airline companies’ standard operating procedures call for the pilots to perform a “go around” (abort the landing and circle in for another try). This is particularly important since the NTSB has found that 75% of accidents involving aircraft are a result of the crew following through on the unstable landing instead of electing for a go around.
This is unacceptable.
I monitor many chat rooms where people say “hey, any landing you can walk away from is a good landing”. Really? How ridiculous to believe that. A pilot is responsible for up to hundreds of lives and they are bound by the standard operating procedures for their aircraft and of their companies. To willfully decide that they should continue to try to land a jet aircraft in what they KNOW to be an unsafe and unstable landing is practically criminal and definitely negligence.
In Flight 345, the pilot realized when the plane was 500 feet from the ground that the flaps were not configured correctly for landing. This was resulting in the plane coming in for a landing too high and too fast. She set the flaps and let the co-pilot continue the landing, but repeatedly exclaimed to the co-pilots “get down!” “get down!” until about 9 seconds from touchdown. At 3 seconds to touchdown, she took control of the airplane saying “I got it” to which the co-pilot replied “ok, you got it”. It was too late to recover from the chain of errors and she, in effect, drove a jet into the ground nose first.
It’s a miracle that no one was killed in the resulting accident.
We represent several victims of the pilot’s error and resulting airplane accident aboard Southwest 345. Our clients left Nashville on that morning and trusted the crew of the plane to get them safely to LaGuardia. Instead, and with extreme and proven negligence, the pilot exposed our clients as well as all onboard to one of the most terrifying experiences of theirs lives. In addition to physical injuries, many suffer nightmares and PTSD due to the accident. Some, who have traveled all their lives for business and/or pleasure, are not able to even consider boarding a plane which has disrupted their lives and their ability to make a living.
If we do not hold these pilots accountable for their willful violation of procedures, or not hold airline companies for poor or inadequate training, or not hold aircraft manufacturers accountable for faulty aircraft designs, then what protection do we have from willful neglect from people or corporations who hold our very lives in their hands?
I look forward to pursuing justice for my clients and plan to file in New York in the next few months to protect theirs rights.
Keith Williams
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