Reality comes home to visit when you least expect it. Thursday night at 11:45, I logged on to my computer to print a boarding pass and was frozen by a new screen on Southwest Airline’s website. The “Incident” page appeared indicating that Midway Airport was shut down until further notice. I was scheduled to travel to Midway on Southwest at 7:00 am in the morning. I sat back and considered what I had just read.
Southwest is one of my most frequent carriers. Last year alone I traveled 87 segments on Southwest, 35 of those to Midway. In the past 10 years can only guess I’ve traveled over 500 segments on Southwest. Midway is a second home to me. In the rainy summer of 2003, I was spending 6 hours a week in delays alone in Midway. My knowledge of Midway probably exceeds many of the employees that work there.
Southwest has adopted a simple business policy that has served them well over the years. They only fly one aircraft, the Boeing 737. Every pilot, every mechanic, every ground crew and every flight attendant knows only one plane; and they know it in detail. As a result Southwest in 35 years of flying never had a fatality, until Thursday.
Southwest described the Incident. Last night, Flight 1248 was involved in an incident at Chicago Midway Airport at approximately 7:15 p.m. CST while the aircraft, a Boeing 737-700, was landing. The aircraft veered off the runway and through the blast fence at the northwest corner of the runway -- stopping at the intersection of Central and 55th Avenues. The weather conditions at the time could be described as one-quarter to one-half mile visibility with snow. The flight, which was on arrival from Baltimore/Washington International Airport, was scheduled to continue on to Las Vegas and Salt Lake City.
CBS News correspondent Bob Orr reported. Investigators on Friday studied the crash scene where a Southwest Airlines jet trying to land amid heavy snow plowed off a Midway International Airport runway and into a street, killing a 6-year-old boy in a car. The crash is the first fatal accident in the 35-year history of Southwest Airlines.
Southwest Airlines is currently the dominant carrier at Midway, controlling 25 of the airport's 43 gates and with 196 departures daily. “Originally named Chicago Air Park, Midway Airport was built on 320 acres in 1923 and consisted of a single cinder runway that primarily served airmail services. During its first full year of operation in 1928, the airfield was home to twelve hangars and four runways, lit for night operations. Air traffic control was handled by flagmen, who would be positioned at the end of the runways, where they were responsible that year for controlling 14,498 flight operations carrying 41,660 passengers. The airport was officially renamed on July 8, 1949, to "Chicago Midway Airport" in honor of the World War II Battle of Midway. Midway reached a height of 10 million passengers in 1959. By 1961, however, the airport faced a 60% drop in passenger traffic, largely due to the opening of O'Hare in 1955”.
Because Midway is surrounded by buildings and other development, the landing thresholds of the runways are displaced to provide a proper obstacle clearance. While adequate and legal for the purposes used, these runways leave little margin for error. Both the FAA and the airlines assure safety by limiting loads and adhering to adjusted weather minimums. The recent Incident has once again raised questions about the safety of MDW's short runways for use by medium-haul commercial airliners, which are heavier than regional jets. Whereas larger airports utilize a buffer zone for overruns, the end of the runway used by the Southwest 737 is adjacent to a fence separating airport property from neighboring streets.
I woke up early Friday to find the airport open. I printed my boarding pass and drove to the airport to travel to Midway not less than 12 hours from the Incident. While waiting in line to board someone asked me if I was nervous? No not really today is the safest day of the year to travel to Midway on Southwest. Today everything is by the book. We boarded the plane and sat at the gate. The first report was that Midway was shut down because of a low cloud ceiling. Our delay was estimated at 90 minutes. The second report was that midway opened but now was under flow control. Flow control in used to space plane landings and departures three minutes apart. This is typical when weather is a problem and visibility is obscured. Our second delay added another 90 minutes. After three hours of sitting in the plane, we departed for Midway.
The flight was smooth and generally uneventful, however as we approached Midway it was odd that the sky was crystal blue without a cloud for miles. Why does the airline assume that I am not intelligent enough to be told the truth? Where was no weather issue at Midway! Where was no ceiling at all? I tend to mistrust anyone who is fearful of telling me a simple truth. I understand that there was a recent Incident and the airport needed additional time to pick up strewn parts. Or whatever the reason just tell me the truth, I’ll decide if it bothers me.
As we landed the downed plane was hidden in the far corner of the opposite runway. A handful of emergency vehicles surrounded the plane which was still in the middle of the adjacent street. I’m not sure if anyone else on our plane noticed the scurry of activity. I disembarked from gate B23 and walked to CTA orange line train to the city.
The following day, went back to Midway at 1:45 to catch my 3:30 flight home. All of a sudden it started snowing again. By the time I got to the gate the 3:30 flight was cancelled. As the snow became thick, the next flight at 5:30 was delayed until 8:45. Midway began to resemble the weather conditions when the Thursday Incident occurred. As soon as this happened Southwest began to cancel every flight from Midway. Phoenix, Tampa, Orlando, Providence, it did not matter the destination. My last flight was cancelled at 6:30. I shook my head and figured there was worst places in the world to be stranded other than Chicago on a Saturday night. I got a good room rate at the Fairmount downtown and headed for the famous Palm Steakhouse to idle away the evening.
I realized while eating a steak and drinking a martini that Southwest was just having a bad day. I’ve seen them fly in weather many times more severe than the ½ inch snow that shut down operations Saturday. Southwest was in the center of the media crosshairs. They just could not afford another Incident and panicked. For as far as Southwest and I go back, they can have a bad day now and then. I’ll be content to have a nice meal and a warm bed. Sunday I headed to the airport again for my trip home. Things were back to normal, the flight departed on time. Everyone is entitled to a bad day, even Southwest. I’ll be back! After a day in the office I’m heading out to Midway again in the morning. Some things never change.
