Crew Used Reverse Thrust Late in Chicago, NTSB Says

A Southwest Airlines flight landing in heavy snowfall skidded off a runway at Midway International Airport in Chicago on Dec. 8. (By Charles Rex Arbogast -- Associated Press)

Thrust reversers on the Southwest Airlines Boeing 737 that overshot a runway at Midway International Airport and killed a child on the ground last week were deployed significantly later than they should have been, a federal safety investigation report issued yesterday said.

Thrust reversers redirect the flow of jet engine exhaust to slow the plane and generate the roar that passengers hear from the engines shortly after landing.

Normally, flight crews activate the thrust reversers a few seconds after landing to slow the plane. The National Transportation Safety Board said the Southwest crew did not engage the reversers until 18 seconds after touchdown. Had the crew acted sooner, safety experts said, the accident probably could have been avoided.

"If the crew had deployed [the reversers] immediately or had they been successful . . . it certainly wouldn't have killed the kid and it might even have kept the plane on the runway," said Richard Healing, a former NTSB member.

Southwest Flight 1248 slid off the end of the snowy runway, barreled through an airport blast fence and struck two cars, including a sedan carrying a family of five, killing a 6-year-old.

An NTSB update on the investigation yesterday said the pilot flying the plane "stated that he could not get the reverse thrust levers out of the stowed position. The first officer, after several seconds, noticed that the thrust reversers were not deployed and activated the reversers without a problem."

The plane hit the fence 14 seconds after the reversers were initiated. Flight 1248 originated at Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport.

The NTSB report also indicated that the plane landed with 4,500 feet remaining on the runway -- a distance that is considered within the "touchdown zone" of the runway but close to the end of the zone. The plane would have needed about 5,300 feet to come to a stop, given the runway conditions and the late application of the thrust reversers.

The plane landed in heavy snow that was falling at a rate of about 1 inch per hour. Midway had only one runway open at the time. Pilots had one-half mile of visibility and a tail wind of 11 knots, according to a weather report 20 minutes before the accident.

Had the plane landed into the wind, from the runway's opposite end, it would have required 1,000 fewer feet to stop, the NTSB report said. But weather conditions from that end would not have met safety requirements for most commercial airplanes to land.