Final Report: 737 overruns runway as crew ignores destabilized approach and company procedure

BOEING 737-300, BURBANK, CALIF., MARCH 5, 2000–At about 1811 PST Southwest Airlines Flight 1455, a Boeing 737-300 (N668SW), overran the de

By David A. Lombardo • Contributor

May 8, 2008

BOEING 737-300, BURBANK, CALIF., MARCH 5, 2000–At about 1811 PST Southwest Airlines Flight 1455, a Boeing 737-300 (N668SW), overran the departure end of Runway 8 after landing at Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport (BUR). The airplane touched down traveling approximately 182 kt, and about 20 sec later, traveling approximately 32 kt, collided with a metal blast fence and an airport perimeter wall. The Part 121 flight was on an IFR flight plan operating in VMC at twilight.

After penetrating the fence and perimeter wall, the airplane came to rest on a four-lane city street east of the airport. Tire marks in a gradual arcing right turn originated on the runway about 1,500 ft before the fence. The airplane’s structure remained intact and the entire airframe was accounted for at the accident site. Major damage was confined to the nose section (mainly on the left side and the nosewheel well area) and fuselage station BS 515, which collapsed circumferentially. The nose gear was severed from the drag brace and driven aft into the electronics bay after rotating the assembly 90 deg. A portion of the nose cone and left wingtip were severed from the airframe. The major damage to the left and right wings was confined to the leading-edge devices.

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