Sat Oct 02, 2021 9:05 pm
Once back in the day while riding aboard a Southwest Airlines 737-200 from ABQ to PHX, the plane made an extremely "firm" landing and when reverse thrust was applied, I felt being pulled very, very hard against my seatbelt. I even had to brace myself against the backrest of the seat in front of me.
When departing the plane in PHX I told the flight attendant: "wow, that was a rough landing." She told me this: "Southwest pilots are ex-Navy and used to landing on carriers. She laughed and the other flight attendant said: "On their days off, they practice landing in a telephone booth" And then they both laughed.
I'm sure all Southwest pilots are not ex-Navy but I always wondered why the SW landings were often so "firm" compared to flights on other airline 737's like AmericaWest, Delta, American and so on.
One thing for sure, flying on Southwest Airlines was always exciting. Never a dull moment. I miss that sometimes.