NTSB Press Release

National Transportation Safety Board
Office of Public Affairs

NTSB Issues Investigative Update into Southwest Flight 345 Accident at LaGuardia Airport in New York

July 25

The National Transportation Safety Board today released factual information from the July 22 accident involving a Southwest Airlines Boeing 737-700 landing at New York's LaGuardia Airport. The airplane’s front landing gear collapsed on landing.

• Evidence from video and other sources is consistent with the nose-gear making contact with the runway before the main landing gear.
• The flight data recorder on the airplane recorded 1,000 parameters and contained approximately 27 hours of recorded data, including the entire flight from Nashville to New York.
• The cockpit voice recorder contains a two-hour recording of excellent quality that captures the entire flight from Nashville to New York and the accident landing sequence.
• Flaps were set from 30 to 40 degrees about 56 seconds prior to touchdown.
• Altitude was about 32 feet, airspeed was about 134 knots, and pitch attitude was about 2 degrees nose-up approximately 4 seconds prior touchdown.
• At touchdown, the airspeed was approximately 133 knots and the aircraft was pitched down approximately 3 degrees.
• After touchdown, the aircraft came to a stop within approximately 19 seconds.
• A cockpit voice recorder group will convene tomorrow at NTSB laboratories in Washington to transcribe the relevant portion of the accident flight.

Further investigative updates will be issued as events warrant. Follow the investigation at Twitter at @NTSB, on our website at ntsb.gov. Sign up for news releases at www.ntsb.gov/registration/registration.aspx

Office of Public Affairs
490 L'Enfant Plaza, SW
Washington, DC 20594
(202) 314-6100
Eric Weiss
eric.weiss@ntsb.gov

 

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The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is an independent federal agency charged with determining the probable cause
of transportation accidents, promoting transportation safety, and assisting victims of transportation accidents and their families.