Steve Scott's Blog

Here's how I spent my Thursday night and Friday Morning...


This Southwest Airlines 737 skidded off the end of a runway while trying to land in heavy snow at Midway Airport Thursday evening. The plane crashed through an airport wall, and onto busy Central Avenue. The plane hit at least one car, killing a 6 year old boy from Indiana, and injuring several other people.

In the near-blizzard conditions, just getting to the airport was problematic for the media covering the crash. I ended up taking a train. It got me there in a hurry...but put me on the wrong side of the airport. So, I had to trudge through the calf-deep snow...on foot! The first picture is pretty much what I saw as I approached the scene.

Here's an overhead view of the plane - sitting in the intersection of Central Avenue and 55th Street - taken the next morning, after the skies had cleared. You can clearly see where the plane crashed through the airport boundary wall.

As tragic as the death of a little boy is, one could say this incident really could have been much worse. No fire, no break-up of the plane, no serious injuries on the aircraft.


This picture gives you an idea just how close the plane came to hitting some homes and small businesses in the area. Midway is a completely "landlocked" airport. The airport is surrounded by four very busy city streets...and there are houses and small businesses literally across the street from the airport on all four sides.




These next two pictures show the crushed car in which the Woods family of Leroy, Indiana, was riding. Six-year old Joshua Woods died in the crash, and several of his family members were hurt.









It's not easy to see...but the Woods family's car can be seen wedged under the wing and wing engine. Joshua's father, who was driving, says he could see the plane coming at them (it broke through the way at around 45 mph) but there was nothing he could do. He was locked in traffic, and could not move. It's actually amazing that only one car was crushed by the plane. A second vehicle was hit, but there were no serious injuries in that car.



Here's another look at rescue crews working on the snow-covered aircraft. Midway Airport got 10 inches of snow on Thursday, and it was snowing hard at the time of the crash. The pilot was trying to land in a tailwind on a snowy runway - not a good combination. Plus, the pilot says he had trouble getting the plane's engine thrust reversers - which help the aircraft slow down - to engage.




Courtesy of the Chicago Sun-Times, here's an overhead view of Midway Airport, showing Runway 31 Center - on which I've landed Cessnas - and the path the plane took in running off the end of the runway. Note in this overhead shot how close the homes and businesses are to the airport - literally right across the street!


As for my crash coverage...I was doing reports on both WLS and ABC networks news all night Thursday and then all through the morning on Friday. I was also interviewed on a bunch of ABC affiliates across the country. And, Radio New Zealand actually tracked me down at the crash scene Thursday night for a brief interview.

I ended up a little under the weather after spending all of that time outside in the blowing snow (and then the next morning, out in the brutal cold). It was nothing serious...and I'm feeling a little better now.

It took a couple tries, but the plane was eventually towed back onto airport property, and the streets have been re-opened.

And, yes...the family of the boy who died has hired lawyers.