Boeing 737-300 N343SW

Summary

On 25 May 2003 at about 02:36 local time, a Boeing 737-300 registered N343SW was involved in an accident near Amarillo, Texas, United States. 68 people were on board and nobody was injured. The aircraft was substantially damaged. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

25 May 2003 at 02:36

Classification

Accident

Location

Amarillo, Texas, United States

Nearest airport

Amarillo International Airport (AMA)

Coordinates

35.2211, -101.7100

Aircraft

Boeing 737-300

Registration

N343SW

Category

Airplane

Engines

2

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 121: Air Carrier

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Las Vegas → Amarillo

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

IMC

Light

Night/Dark

NTSB number

FTW03MA160

Nobody was injured.

the flight crew's failure to align the airplane's ground track with the runway centerline before touchdown and the flight crew's failure to maintain directional control of the airplane after touchdown. Contributing to the accident was the flight crew's decision to continue the approach and to land with a thunderstorm (with associated gusty and variable winds) reported at the airport and the heavy rain, which reduced the flight crew's visibility on short final.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record. This site does not paraphrase or interpret it.

Read the full NTSB narrative

The Board's full report is available at: http://www.ntsb.gov/publictn/2006/FTW03MA160.pdf On May 24, 2003, about 2136 central daylight time, a Boeing 737-300 (737), N343SW, registered to and operated by Southwest Airlines Company (Southwest) as flight 2066, veered off the left side of runway 4 during landing at Amarillo International Airport (AMA), Amarillo, Texas. The flight crew steered the airplane back toward the runway, the nose landing gear collapsed, and the airplane came to a stop on the runway. The 63 passengers and 5 crewmembers were not injured, and the airplane sustained substantial damage. The scheduled domestic air carrier flight was operated under the provisions of 14 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 121 with an instrument flight rules (IFR) flight plan filed; visual meteorological conditions prevailed with thunderstorms in the vicinity of the airport. The flight originated from McCarran International Airport (LAS), Las Vegas, Nevada, about 1945.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.