Jet Crew: Reverse Thrusters Failed in Chicago - Washington Post

rote

Marc CYBW wrote:
The pilots of Southwest Airlines Flight 1248 were permitted to
attempt a landing in extremely bad weather at Midway Airport
because the low-cost carrier holds a special FAA waiver to
operate below regular minimum-visibility safety regulations,
federal officials said Wednesday.
...
Among the 10 airlines serving Midway, Southwest and ATA Airlines
have been granted waivers from the Federal Aviation
Administration allowing planes to land when visibility is below
three-fourths of a mile--the established standard on Runway 31
Center, where the Southwest accident occurred.

Pilots must be specially trained and log a required number of
landings with a certified pilot before receiving their own
certification allowing them to land at Midway with only one-half
mile visibility, called a "31Z approach."

This is not a waiver, it is standard operating procedure for most
Part 121 aircarriers. OPSPECS for Part 121 carriers specify standard
CAT I minimums as 3/4 mile visibility. Any carrier may operate to
the lower minimum of 1/2 mile visibility by simulator training (and
checking) their pilots to hand fly ILSs to 100' DA. This was standard
at the aircarriers for which I both prepared the OPSPECS and flew.
The 1/2 mile OPSPEC authorization was not airport specific.

Bob Moore
ATP
PanAm (retired)

"Bob Moore" wrote in message

This is not a waiver, it is standard operating procedure for most

Bob, I don't know about the detail of the OPSpec, but I can concur with the
flying part. My training and sim ck always included a 100' ILS hand flown,
separate and apart from any other quals like CatIII, etc.

Heads up DFDR showed no TR malfunctions, NTSB insider which
sucks since we know these crewmembers.

Bush

On Sun, 11 Dec 2005 14:22:00 GMT, "Marc CYBW"
wrote:


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...121001562.html

Bob Moore wrote:
rote

Marc CYBW wrote:
The pilots of Southwest Airlines Flight 1248 were permitted to
attempt a landing in extremely bad weather at Midway Airport
because the low-cost carrier holds a special FAA waiver to
operate below regular minimum-visibility safety regulations,
federal officials said Wednesday.

This is not a waiver, it is standard operating procedure for most
Part 121 aircarriers. OPSPECS for Part 121 carriers specify standard
CAT I minimums as 3/4 mile visibility. Any carrier may operate to
the lower minimum of 1/2 mile visibility by simulator training (and
checking) their pilots to hand fly ILSs to 100' DA. This was standard
at the aircarriers for which I both prepared the OPSPECS and flew.
The 1/2 mile OPSPEC authorization was not airport specific.

SWA briefly services ORD:

"December 29, 2005 - A Southwest Airlines jet was forced to make an
emergency landing at O'Hare Airport after colliding with a bird during
takeoff from Midway.

Flight 111 was on its way to Philadelphia when a bird was apparently
sucked into one of the 737's engines, causing it to shut down.
Southwest officials say they decided to send the plane to O'Hare
because it was a full flight and needed a longer runway.
The plane landed without incident. No one was hurt. A second Southwest
Airlines jet was sent to O'Hare to take the stranded passengers on to
Philadelphia."

JG