PPRuNe Forums - View Single Post - Southwest Captain Reduced Power Before NYC Crash Landing
Old 8th Nov 2014, 19:03
  #59 (permalink)  
misd-agin
 
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Ultimately it wasn't the lack of Captain skills that caused the accident. It was the lack of flying skills, and 737 flying skills even with 12,000(?) hrs in type, that caused the accident.

At a certain point, distance or altitude a plane stabilized with appropriate power setting and in trim will still land at an acceptable sink rate even with no pilot inputs. AA 612, Lax-EWR Nov 21, 1987, is an example of that when the CA had a fatal heart attack at approx 50'.

This accident showed that going to idle at 46' with flaps 40 and then not controlling the pitch attitude is unacceptable in a 737. That should be covered in initial simulator training or IOE/LOE and shouldn't surprise a pilot with 12,000(?) hrs in type.
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