Southwest Plane Diverts To Dallas-Ft. Worth International Airport

oldman

Well-known Member
Location
PA
This is no big deal, but thought I would post it anyway. Have you ever taken a 15 mile flight?

A Southwest Airlines plane diverted from Love Field because the plane was a Boeing 737-800 series, which has anti skid brakes on it. Evidently, a problem was found with the anti skid breaks not functioning properly, so the plane needed a longer runway than what Love Field has. Love Field’s longest runway is 8800 feet while the longest runway at Dallas-Ft. Worth International Airport is 13,400 feet. Quite a difference.

Although the plane won’t need the entire 13,400 feet to stop or make a turn onto the taxiway, it would be very close if the plane attempted to stop on a runway with 8800 feet. To put it in layman’s terms, anti skid brakes are most useful when runways are snow or ice covered and even when the runway is wet from rain. They act a lot like the ABS brakes on your automobile.

Passengers that needed to get to Love Field were put on another plane and flown over to the airport. It’s only about 15 miles between airports. Probably one of the shortest flights ever.
 

I was thinking about the cost to Southwest. I would bet money that it was the costliest 15 miles they ever had and the most they ever spent on fuel. It had to go in the loss column.
 


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