Boeing 737-300 N315SW

Summary

On 11 May 1996 at about 04:18 local time, a Boeing 737-300 registered N315SW was involved in an incident near Dallas, Texas, United States. 50 people were on board and nobody was injured. The aircraft was slightly damaged. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

11 May 1996 at 04:18

Classification

Incident

Location

Dallas, Texas, United States

Nearest airport

Dallas Love Field (DAL)

Coordinates

32.8309, -96.8502

Aircraft

Boeing 737-300

Registration

N315SW

Category

Airplane

Engines

2

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 121: Air Carrier

Purpose of flight

Unknown

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

San Antonio → Unknown

Aircraft damage

Minor

Weather

VMC

Light

Night/Dark

NTSB number

FTW96IA210

Nobody was injured.

failure of the pilot to maintain directional control and runway alignment, during the landing roll out. Factors relating to the incident were: darkness, the adverse weather condition, the wet runway, and reduced visibility due to the inadvertent encounter with heavy rain.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

During a visual approach to runway 31L, the flightcrew visually observed thunderstorms north of the airport, which were moving south. Also, they noted a display of the thunderstorms on their weather radar system. Light rain was encountered at 200 feet AGL. The rain intensified passing through 100 feet AGL, and the captain switched to 'high wiper.' The captain stated that, at 50 feet AGL, 'the visibility was [further] reduced by heavy rain.' After touchdown, the captain advised the first officer (who was at the controls) for a correction, to which the first officer acknowledged, 'I have full rudder input.' Subsequent to the rudder inputs, the crew 'was able to re-center the aircraft on the runway.' The flight crew of another aircraft holding at the threshold of runway 31L reported that they observed the airplane 'disappear into a wall of water' after touch down. Examination of the airplane revealed the presence of mud on the left main landing gear, wheel well, engine, and engine pylon area. Inspection of the runway revealed evidence that the left main landing gear departed the paved surface for about 700 feet. Also, 6 runway edge lights were damaged on left side of runway 31L.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.