New Video Shows Just How Hard That Southwest Flight Hit The Ground At LaGuardia
A new video shot inside the Southwest jet that landed badly and slid off the runway at New York's LaGuardia Airport last week show just how rough the impact was.
The nose gear of the 737 hit the ground before the main landing gear, the reverse of proper procedure. The plane hit the ground hard enough to push the wheels up and into the fuselage. The plane slid about 2,000 feet, and no one was seriously injured.
Kit Darby, an aviation consultant and 737 instructor for Boeing, said that this type of landing is "not that uncommon" among trainees, but is "extremely rare" for certified pilots.
Nose landings are most common on short runways like LaGuardia's, he said, because the pilots may rush to get the plane on the ground, so they can begin slowing down. That can require angling the plane down a bit, but "if you misjudge that even a little bit," he said, the landing won't go smoothly.
Whatever happened on Southwest Flight 345, the noise of the impact alone is scary:
Watch: