Report: Plane Was Almost On Ground When Pilot Took Control At LaGuardia
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) -- The pilot of a Southwest Airlines plane that made a hard landing at LaGuardia Airport took control from the first officers just 400 feet from the ground, according to a report Tuesday.
Sixteen people were injured on July 22 when the jetliner touched down on the runway, nose first, before its gear collapsed. The Boeing 737, which had come in from Nashville, Tenn., ended up in a grassy area next to the runway where passengers used chutes to escape.
The National Transportation Safety Board said the captain who landed the plane had flown into LaGuardia just once before.
No mechanical problems were found, and an examination of the nose gear indicated that it failed due to stress overload.
Southwest said at the time of the accident that the landing described by investigators violated the airline's normal procedures.
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