NTSB
Advisory
National Transportation Safety Board
Washington, DC 20594
March 7, 2000
STATEMENT BY CHAIRMAN JIM HALL ON THE NTSB INVESTIGATION OF THE RUNWAY
OVERRUN ACCIDENT
INVOLVING SOUTHWEST AIRLINES FLIGHT 1455
National Transportation Safety Board Chairman Jim Hall today issued
the following statement on the Board's investigation of the accident involving
Southwest Airlines flight 1455:
On Sunday, March 5, at approximately 6:11 p.m., PST, a Southwest Airlines
Boeing 737-300, operated as flight 1455 from Las Vegas, Nevada, overran
the departure end of runway 8 while landing at Burbank, California.
The airplane traveled through a fence and came to rest on a highway outside
the airport perimeter. There were no fatalities to the 137 passengers
and 5 crew aboard.
The Safety Board immediately dispatched a team of investigators from
its regional office in Gardena, California and its Washington, D.C. headquarters.
Safety Board investigators in Burbank are heading up groups in the areas
of flight operations, air traffic control, aircraft performance, aircraft
structures, aircraft systems, and survival factors. Additional investigators
are working from Washington in the areas of meteorology and airport factors.
Both the cockpit voice recorder (CVR) and the flight data recorder (FDR)
were transported to the Board's laboratory in Washington and have been
read out by Safety Board engineers. Today the NTSB established CVR
and FDR groups chaired by Board investigators with representatives of the
Federal Aviation Administration, Southwest Airlines, Southwest Airline
Pilots Association, and the Boeing Company.
The following is preliminary information that the NTSB has gleaned from
the CVR, FDR, recorded radar data, and input from air traffic control personnel:
-
The CVR recording is of good quality with 31 minutes and 35 seconds of
information. The FDR has good information on 30 parameters.
-
Upon initial contact with air traffic approach control, flight 1455 was
advised to expect landing on runway 8.
-
Approach control asked the flight to maintain 230 knots or greater until
advised.
-
After subsequent heading and altitude assignments, approach control cleared
flight 1455 for a visual approach to runway 8 with a restriction to remain
at or above 3,000 feet (above mean sea level) until passing the Van Nuys
very high frequency omnidirectional range (VOR) beacon. This navigational
aid is approximately 6 miles from the runway.
-
Radar data suggest that the flight began its descent from 3,000 feet about
4 miles from the runway. FDR data suggest that the flight's descent
angle from 3,000 feet to touchdown was in excess of 6 degrees. In
comparison, the flight path angle for the instrument landing system for
runway 8 at Burbank is 3 degrees.
-
The crew was cleared to land by Burbank Tower and also advised that the
wind was from 210 degrees at six knots. This is consistent with FDR
data, which suggest a tailwind component at the surface of less than 5
knots.
-
During the final descent, there were annunciations from the airplane's
ground proximity warning system of "sink rate" and "pull up." Engines
remained at low or idle power settings through this period.
-
According to the FDR the airplane's speed at touchdown was approximately
181 knots.
-
First indications of an impact were about 20 seconds later. The airplane
was traveling at about 32 knots at the time of this impact.
-30-
NTSB Press Officer: Keith Holloway, (202) 314-6100
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