Airliner barrels off runway into street

Monday, March 6, 2000 | 11:43 a.m.

The chairman of Southwest Airlines today called the skidding crash of Flight 1455 from Las Vegas to Burbank, Calif., "the most serious" in the 29-year history of the airline.

Fifteen of the 137 passengers were injured -- none seriously -- as were the pilot and co-pilot in Sunday's crash of the 737 jet. The plane skidded off the end of a runway at Burbank International Airport, crashed through a fence and stopped on a nearby street, missing a gas station by 100 feet.

Because the passengers were not required to tell Southwest their city of residence when they bought their tickets, it was not immediately known how many -- if any -- were from Las Vegas, a Southwest official said today. However, the airline said the majority of people appeared to be Californians.

All but one passenger got on board in Las Vegas. The other got on the plane in Salt Lake City. The crash occurred shortly after 6 p.m.

"This was the most serious accident we have had in 29 years," said Southwest Airline Chairman and President Herb Kelleher during today's teleconference news conference from Southwest Airlines Corporate office in Dallas.

"We were very fortunate this was not worse than it was."

Southwest Airlines has 2,550 flights per day worldwide and 900,000 a year. The airline has never had a fatality. The airline's last major incident was in 1996 when a flight from Nashville, Tenn., was aborted on takeoff and slid off the runway into a grassy area, shaking up those on board.

Of those passengers who were injured Sunday, four were taken to Southern California hospitals, where two of them were treated and released, Kelleher said.

The captain, an Oakland, Calif., resident who has been with Southwest since 1988 and has 18,000 flying hours, suffered a blow to his head during the landing and was treated and released from a California hospital. His name was not released.

The co-pilot has been with Southwest since 1996, Kelleher said, declining to release that name as well. He too was treated at a hospital. There were three other crew members, bringing to 142 the number of people on board the flight.

Kelleher said both pilots had "four to five days off" before Sunday's flight, which was their first of the day.

The National Transportation Safety Board was on the scene today as the plane still rested on Hollywood Way, blocking traffic. A cause of the crash has not yet been determined. Kelleher said the airline was in the process of removing the plane from the street, but that the fuel had to first be drained from it.

Kelleher said early reports that it was raining in Burbank at the time of the crash were inaccurate. He said that while it was raining earlier Sunday, the rain had stopped four hours before the plane landed. He also noted that another Southwest flight landed without incident two minutes earlier.

Kelleher said the runway was dry and wind conditions were normal.

The plane, a Boeing 737-300, had undergone a maintenance check on March 2 and "no anomalies" were found, Kelleher said.

Darryl Forbes, Burbank Fire Department's fire marshal, said parts of the fence were imbedded in the plane's engine. The aircraft's wings were badly damaged and its front wheels had collapsed. The plane came to a rest with its nose on the ground. Landing gear was still supporting the rear of the aircraft.

Kevin McCoy, a passenger on the plane, told KNBC-TV that the plane departed from Las Vegas about 2 hours behind schedule Sunday afternoon. The flight was scheduled to depart from Las Vegas at 2:45 p.m.

"They told us it might be a rough landing, but none of us were expecting this," McCoy said, noting that the plane made a short approach toward the runway and seemed to be going fast. "We are very lucky. All of us."

His wife, Debbie McCoy, laughingly said of the landing: "I think that was my luckiest part of my trip to Las Vegas. I lost everything in Las Vegas."

Officials and emergency crews at the airport, which is located northeast of downtown Los Angeles, doused the plane for safety precautions, but there were no reports of flames.

Another Southwest Airlines flight, a Boeing 737-200, heading for Burbank Airport had problems earlier on Sunday. Flight 1478 departed from San Jose International Airport about 9:40 a.m. but had to turn around because of engine problems, airline spokeswoman Kristin Nelson said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.