Southwest Flight 1245 Makes Emergency Landing In Tampa

TAMPA, Fla. — An airline spokesman says an indicator light that warned of possible smoke aboard a Southwest Airlines flight forced the pilot to make an emergency landing in Tampa, Fla.

Tampa International Airport spokeswoman Brenda Geoghagan (GO'-haygan) says passengers were let out of the plane on emergency slides Monday afternoon. She says airport fire crews confirmed smoke in the cabin.

But Southwest spokesman Brad Hawkins said there was no smoke or fire on the plane. He said an indicator light went on soon after takeoff, prompting the pilot to land in Tampa as a precaution.

He says Flight 1245 had 129 passengers and crew and all got off safely with only minor injuries. Hawkins said the airline was arranging for another aircraft so passengers could continue their trip to Denver.

Comments

[AspenSyzygy]

Southwest is the BEST airline out there, by far. They are the easiest to work with, most fun to fly, easiest to change schedules if necessary, easiest to move around times, best fares, and lowest fees and penalties - if they charge any, which is rare.

As for this "incident" - what really happened, when all was said and done? Seems to me - nothing. Everyone was safe. All is well.

[Donns]

The correct procedures were followed. End of story. This doesn't make this airline any better or worse than the others, despite the maintenance rumors going around or the cattle call boarding or the extra charges to be in front of the herd to board.

[Ipanema]

I strongly disagree! Virgin American is the leader (have WiFi in this age of telecommunications and low rates to boot)

[AspenSyzygy]

Ah - I've never been on VA, but I could see that.

The airline to avoid is AirTran - they booby trap you with outrageous fees and penalties and baggage charges, etc., and don't tell you until it's too late to avoid them. Nasty.

[TJCole]

People don't realize our airlines are doing their routine maintenance in third world countries now...

Just another reason we should Nationalize them too..!

Have a nice flight...!

[vippy]

Yep, outsourced to India, imagine that. And then in dire times it is "maintenance" that goes by the wayside first. We have had a very bad year so far. And then what our hero Sully said, the airlines
are now hiring CHEAP Pilots, making barely above $ 20 per hour. They let the experienced pilots go by the wayside. This is not comforting to know.

[JakePeabody]

I love this town, the only reason we're ever on here is for plane malfunctions and stupid people attending rallies.

[Off2thetropics]

Once on a Continental Express flight from Grand Island Nebraska to Denver some idiot went in the bathroom and struck a match. The warning sirens started and the idiot was later arrested in Denver. Before getting there however, the pilot came on the intercom to talk to us. He said "There are only three things on earth that scare me - rattlesnakes, ex-wives, and fires on an airplane. All three have tried to kill me."

[vippy]

What humor!

[madisonhack]

When I worked on airplanes for a living, a client of ours asked me what I thought about adding long range fuel tanks to a plane that he owned. My response was, "the only time extra fuel is a disadvantage is when the plane is on fire".

I still stand by that statement.

[MajorKong]

You don't mess around with a smoke or fire indication.

You may have as little as 20 minutes to put it on the ground before the fire burns through something you need to fly the plane with.

[madisonhack]

The worst part of the scenario is the "smoke" part. When you can't see inside the cabin, you're in big trouble.

[Rictracee]

Southwest has been having so many problems lately.. this is not going to end well. I can feel it.. something bad going to happen

[AZterritory]

They do have an old fleet of 737s. Also hired a maintenance firm who subbed some work out and apparently used not FAA approved replacement parts. Supposedly not a 'critical' part, but hey, when you're in the air, I think EVERY part is pretty critical. We drive.

[CharlottesvilleVA]

According to AirSafe.com the average age of their fleet is 9.8 years, compared to 14.7 for American, 10.1 for Continental, 13.8 for Delta, 18.5 for Northwest, and 12.7 for United. 9.8 isn't "new," but comparatively speaking it is young.

One of their strategic advantages is that they only fly 737s, which creates enormous efficiencies in maintenance, training, and service. And I believe they are expecting a large order of new jets fairly soon, which will make their fleet even younger.

In other words, if you're concerned about flying Southwest, you'd better be terrified of flying their major competitors!

[SwingingFromCenter]

1) Age of the planes has absolutely no relevance on anything. I'd still happily hop into an old 727 without a care in the world because, as one of my old flight instructors used to say, "back then they built them while being afraid of flying".

The amount of maintenance and upkeep that goes into any plane is enormous. And watch any pilot go through his list of pre-flight checks.

[TXfemmom]

Southwest has dropped the ball so much lately. They had all the problems with flying planes with known cracks, and then they subbed out their maintenance and they used non-FAA approved parts, and they had signed a contract to have their maintenance done in Ecuador. After all the bad publicity, they cancelled that contract. I ask you how safe would one feel in a plane which had its' mainntance done in Ecuador?

[John Kramarz]

< I ask you how safe would one feel in a plane which had its' mainntance done in Ecuador?>

I guess, logically, I would be happy to know that the plane could make it all the way to Ecuador and back! But, I'm just an optimist!

[DallasDon]

Please don't say that Rictracee. I live 10 minutes from Love Field, the home of Southwest Airlines. Their planes fly near my house everyday. And their flight path goes precariously near downtown Dallas.

[SwingingFromCenter]

Every airline's flight path goes "precariously" near a downtown area if the airport is in a downtown area. That's not controlled by the airlines, that's flight control. The major airports located within throwing distance of downtown areas (both the Dallas airports, PDX, SFO, McCarren, etc.) will always come nearby the higher buildings.

[Laura McBride]

Will you stop already with the pronunciation keys? In this case, it may be the way the owner pronounces the name, but I wouldn't want to run it by a Celtic scholar.

[dak101]

My wife and I were on United 949 this past July 20th, nonstop, London to Chicago. It really did catch fire beneath the cockpit, with the pilots donning gas masks and goggles, and the crew preparing us for a crash landing in the water. We were over the Atlantic. My wife and I said our good-byes to each other, as the plane filled with smoke. The pilots, struggling heroically, just made it to Iceland, where we rushed down emergency stairways, away from the plane, and where we spent the night. I guess making the news is a function of where you land.

[skeptique]

Wow. Must have been quite unnerving indeed. I'm glad no graver news was made, regardless of where you landed.

[yappnmutt]

my family was on a northwest flight from detroit to japan when the pilot told us passengers there was smoke in the cockpit that seem to go away when they shut off all but essential electrical service. he also told us "headquarters" ordered the flight to continue on to japan. at the time of the pilot's announcement we could still see alaska. our luggage and clothes stunk of burnt plastic when we retrieved it at baggage claim.

my wife and i couldn't believe the airline would take such a bet with our lives. despite many opportunities to do so we have never flown northwest airlines since.

southwest did the right thing.

[belyeu]

The airline cannot order the pilot to continue on against his judgment. The pilot has the last say. FAA rules clearly state that the pilot can over rule anyone on safety issues. All pilots have the last say, it's part of the FAR's.

[SwingingFromCenter]

As Belyeu already said, that could not be how it went down. The pilot ALWAYS and I mean ALWAYS has final say on *everything* as it pertains to the plane and the flight, right down to how much fuel is put into the vessel. A pilot can, at any time, turn a plane around, divert it, or do anything else he wants with it, no questions asked. A pilot doesn't even have to agree to take the thing "wheels up" if he doesn't want to.

A good example of a pilot not doing what he should have was that thing in Minnesota a few weeks back where everybody was stuck on a tin can at the gate overnight. All the pilot had to do in order to resolve the problem was radio into control and state "I'm declaring an emergency" and they would have had to open the gate and let everyone off.

[flydoghead]

Glad you made it, I was on a charter that filled with smoke...there is no where to go !

[Q2]

It did make the news as a small blurb on some sites... not HuffPo though, I don't think:

http://www.chicagobreakingnews.com/2009/07/smoke-causes-united-plane-to-land-in-iceland.html

[dak101]

Thanks, Q2. I hadn't seen that particular blurb, though the comment below the story by a fellow passenger is certainly an eye opener. I was aware of a couple of single paragraph blurbs in local papers. A pilot/poster on the flyertalk website called our situation more than an emergency, he said it was a "crisis". I'm not resentful that our brush with death didn't make bigger headlines, but I do think the airlines heave a sigh of relief when they can bury a story like ours, due to the landing being on an island country not served by any American airlines.

[Off2thetropics]

sounds like a normal day for United. I'm surprised they didn't charge you extra for the cost of the emergency landing.

[madisonhack]

I remember reading the article when it broke and I'm pretty sure those planes were grounded for re-work. Also, the parts that were questioned weren't internal electrical parts.

[422Jim]

Maybe this is one of their planes which they used unauthorized parts to repair. The WSJ reported that the FAA was trying to determine how severe the penalty should be; this should be a reminder that a harsh penalty is needed.

[SwingingFromCenter]

Unfortunately for your theory, the unauthorized parts would have never caused smoke in the cabin.