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Passengers, witnesses describe terrifying landing

Federal investigators want to know if runway had been cleared

Friday, December 9, 2005; Posted: 11:39 p.m. EST (04:39 GMT)

Six-year-old Joshua Woods was killed when the plane struck the car he and his family were in.

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CHICAGO, Illinois (CNN) -- Authorities issued the initial findings Friday of their investigation into what caused a Southwest jet to skid off a snow-covered runway and into a nearby intersection, killing a young boy in a passing car.

Meanwhile, the Boeing 737 remained in the intersection into which it crashed, and the passengers of Flight 1248 were still waiting for their luggage.

The plane, carrying 98 passengers and five crew members en route from Baltimore, Maryland, should be moved to a hangar Saturday morning, said National Transportation Safety Board member Ellen Engleman Conners said.

Conners said the investigation would begin in earnest Saturday and could take as long as a year.

"We will be very thorough," she said, estimating investigators will remain at Midway International Airport for five or six days.

Investigators will begin by weighing luggage and interviewing pilots, witnesses and crew members Saturday, Conners said. Passengers will receive their luggage as soon as possible, she said.

The flight data and cockpit voice recorders were retrieved, and investigators will review air traffic control tapes.

Conners said the plane appeared to land normally, except for a slight bounce.

Data indicated it was traveling 152 mph when it landed and had slowed to 46 mph by the time it smashed through a barrier wall separating the runway from the residential and business districts around Midway and into the intersection of 55th Street and Central Avenue on the northwest side of the airport. (Watch footage from the scene -- 1:33)

It had been snowing all day Thursday in Chicago. By early evening, about 8 inches of snow had fallen, and winds were between 13 mph and 18 mph. Visibility was three-quarters of a mile at the time of the landing.

Questions about whether the runway was properly cleared or if it was long enough to safely land a jet of that size are among the things the NTSB will consider. (Watch that one-third of U.S. airport runways don't meet standards -- 1:38)

Weather conditions would obviously be a major factor under review, Conners said.

"We're going to focus on all aspects," she said. "One thing you find in accident investigations, there's no immediate, quick answer. Usually there's a series of events and factors that led to the event."

Family of boy 'devastated'

The Cook County medical examiner's office identified the boy killed as Joshua Woods, 6, of Leroy, Indiana.

In a news conference Friday, Southwest Airlines CEO Gary Kelly said it was the first fatal accident involving a Southwest flight in the discount carrier's 35-year history.

"The entire Southwest family is grieving this loss, and our thoughts and prayers go out to the child's family, friends and loved ones," Kelly said.

The boy's parents and two younger brothers were injured, according to Deborah Song, spokeswoman for Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oaklawn.

Their car was crushed under the plane's nose, said Fire Department spokesman Larry Langford. (Watch him describe victims and scene -- 2:22)

Four people in a second car, found under one of the jet's wings, were in serious but stable condition.

In all, about a dozen people were injured and taken to hospitals, according to authorities.

Ronald Stearney, the attorney for the Woods family, said members were "completely devastated" by Joshua's death, which happened as the family was headed to the children's grandparents' house.

"You know, kids are always looking to see the aircraft that are landing at Midway, and apparently they heard the sound of engines and the roar kept getting louder and louder and the next thing they knew there was the impact," Stearney said.

"The father looked out his left window and saw the turbine of the 737 still turning."

Mahdi Abdelqader, a tow truck driver, was heading northbound on 55th and witnessed the plane crash into the Woods car.

"The plane was on top of [the vehicle] and we heard the mom and the dad -- the dad got out of the vehicle and grabbed his kid out and then the mom is stuck in there with her two other children and they're screaming, 'Help me, help me.' "

He added, "When I heard that the kid died in that car, I mean, I just lost it, you know."

'It was really bumpy'

Passenger Mike Abate said visibility was "just horrible" and that "you couldn't even see the city lights until literally the last 10 seconds before the landing."

The landing felt normal, he said, until he saw "the terminal to my right ... went by pretty quickly, and we were still at a pretty good clip. That's when I realized something wasn't going well."

Passenger Stanley Den said, "It looked like the runway wasn't plowed at all. The runway looked just like grass. I couldn't really tell if we were on the runway or the grass.

"It was really bumpy," he said. "We were kind of going for a while until the impact -- when we hit maybe, I guess, a barrier fence, went through that and into the middle of the street with cars and stuff riding past us."

A bartender at a nearby pub said he heard two loud booms when the plane crashed into the intersection.

"We thought it was an automobile accident, and we looked out the window and we saw the tail section of a Southwest airliner lying across the street," said Tom Fitzgerald, adding that he saw passengers exiting the rear of the plane.

"People were running, and ambulances were coming down the street."

Amanda Doherty, who lives near the airport, said she saw a car pinned under the airplane with its headlights still on. (Watch witness account -- :27)

Plane was cleared to land

Chicago's acting commissioner of aviation, Pat Harney, said runways had been salted and cleared Thursday, but he said he didn't know when the runway where the jet landed was last serviced. (Problems with older runways)

"The aircraft was cleared for landing," Kelly said. "At this point, since it was cleared for landing, all we can do is assume that the runway was prepared for landing, but we don't have any specific info about the condition of the runway at this point."

The pilot of the jet has been with Southwest for 10 years, and the co-pilot about three years, Kelly said.

"This was the first flight of the day for both pilots," he said.

He added there were no indications of maintenance problems with the plane, and that it underwent a routine check Wednesday in Phoenix, Arizona.

The accident occurred on the same date that 45 people were killed 33 years ago when a plane landing at Midway struck several homes before plowing into one. Forty-three of the dead were passengers and two were in the house.

CNN's Melissa Metzger contributed to this report.