NWA Fires 2 pilots in landing mistake...

[FN FAL]

NWA fires 2 pilots in landing mistake
BY MARTIN J. MOYLAN
[font=Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif]KNIGHT RIDDER NEWSPAPERS[/font] September 8, 2004

Northwest Airlines has fired the pilots who on June 19 mistakenly landed a plane at Ellsworth Air Force Base in South Dakota instead of the Rapid City Regional Airport, about 7 miles away.

After the wayward landing, Jay Leno and other comedians poked fun at the carrier on national TV. One Leno barb: "Northwest Airlines announced a new slogan today -- 'Where the hell are we?' "

Initially, Northwest "held from service" the two pilots pending a review of the incident, which is still under investigation by the Federal Aviation Administration.

The airline's pilots union revealed the firings Tuesday when asked about the U.S. Air Force's recent release of tapes of June 19 conversations of air traffic controllers at the military base.

The fired Northwest pilots, whom neither the union nor the company would identify, are grieving their dismissal, said Will Holman, spokesman for the Northwest Airlines Air Line Pilots Association. The firings took place about July 20.

"We believe the punishment is excessive," he said. "Since the incident, charts and navigational databases have been modified to clearly show both" airport and air base locations.

He said there "have been several previous instances" of pilot confusion between the Ellsworth Air Force Base and the Rapid City airport. But none, Holman said, involved Northwest pilots.

Northwest would neither confirm nor deny that the pilots have been fired.

The Ellsworth base provides approach and departure guidance to all planes flying within 40 miles.

In response to a request from the Pioneer Press of St. Paul, Minn., the Air Force released tapes of its controllers' communications with and about the Northwest plane. The tapes, which apparently include communications with the Rapid City Regional Airport, indicate that the plane's landing at the base surprised not only its pilots but also air traffic controllers who had been watching it.

The base's airfield was closed, as it normally is on Saturdays.

"We didn't even see him land," says a woman on the tape as she speaks with a serviceman who says security forces were "a little upset" to have the commercial airliner on a runway of the B1 bomber base. And he adds, "Col. Brown is not going to be happy with this one," in an apparent reference to base commander Col. Joseph Brown.

The woman speaking on the tape says that mistaken landings had "almost happened a couple of times earlier today."

The Air Force on Tuesday did not identify her but did say she is not a member of the Air Force.

The problem, she indicates, is that civilian planes follow a radio beacon at the nearby regional airport that takes them over the Air Force base.

"They are basically just guiding off a radio and the radio kind of takes them down the center of runway 14" at the Rapid City airport," she says. "So, when they pop out of the clouds, they see the (Air Force base) runway, they don't trust their instruments and all of a sudden make a dive. And that's basically how it happened."

As airliners near the Air Force base, "their data tag drops off," she says about a broadcast electronic identifier. "So, we can't even see them ... when they are over the runway."

Shortly after landing, a pilot on the Northwest plane asked if he could head for the right airport.

"We made a mistake in landing here instead of Rapid City," he says. "If it's OK with you, we can just depart. Hop over."

But it was more than three hours before the plane, an Airbus 319 with 122 passengers and five crewmembers, was allowed to hop over to Rapid City.

During that time, military officials questioned the crew. Eventually, the captain and first officer were replaced by a different Northwest crew, who flew the plane to Rapid City.

Martin J. Moylan covers airlines for the Pioneer Press of St. Paul, Minn.

 

[MJG]

Ouch....


Well we'll have to wait and see about all the circumstances surrounding this event. Obviously they've reviewed all the tapes, CVR, DFDR and ATC and made the conclusion that the pilots should be terminated. That's unfortunate. I'm just speculating but that tells me that there were things going on that must not have helped the pilots' case. Problem is if you're not following the company SOPs to the letter and you mess up like this, you're pretty much left without any defense for your actions. I would guess that NW has procedures in place that if followed may have prevented this unfortunate incident. I think a lot of times folks get canned not because they made a mistake, but because they didn't follow company procedures and then made the mistake because of that which is a double no-no.

 

[LJDRVR]

Ouch indeed!

It's easy to monday morning quarterback this one, but I think I'd prefer saying:

"There but for the grace of God go I."

 

[TonyC]

Obviously they've reviewed all the tapes, CVR, DFDR and ATC and made the conclusion that the pilots should be terminated.

I should hope NOT. CVR should only be used in a safety investigation - - it should never be used for disciplinary purposes. IF it is used for disciplinary purposes, circuit breakers will be mysteriously pulled and accident data will be unavailable when they occur.

 

[GogglesPisano]

I should hope NOT. CVR should only be used in a safety investigation - - it should never be used for disciplinary purposes. IF it is used for disciplinary purposes, circuit breakers will be mysteriously pulled and accident data will be unavailable when they occur.

Actually, these regulations govern only what the government can use. Your company is free to use CVRs and FDRs as they see fit -- including disciplinary actions. My company recently agreed to limits with our MEC (another reason to thank ALPA) during a concessionary round.

 

[Publishers]

logic

We can talk about all the reasons it happened, but, if you are a commercial airline captain and you land at the wrong airport, you will be the rare bird to still have a job, that simple.

Enough people have done this in the past as you have to know where the airports are that look alike and are nearby and take the precautions to see you do not make this mistake.

 

[SDF2BUF2MCO]

Whatever happened to the CO crew that landed at a former Mil base around the Corpus Cristi (?) area back in the late 90's?
Don't wish that on (almost) anyone.

 

[TonyC]

Actually, these regulations govern only what the government can use. Your company is free to use CVRs and FDRs as they see fit -- including disciplinary actions. My company recently agreed to limits with our MEC (another reason to thank ALPA) during a concessionary round.

Good point. NWA being an ALPA carrier, I would be surprised if that's not contractually protected. Granted, I've been surprised before...





.

 

[Stifler's Mom]

We can talk about all the reasons it happened, but, if you are a commercial airline captain and you land at the wrong airport, you will be the rare bird to still have a job, that simple.

Enough people have done this in the past as you have to know where the airports are that look alike and are nearby and take the precautions to see you do not make this mistake.

Knock on wood. Anybody who thinks they are immune from this sort of thing or others (altitude deviation, runway incursions, etc) is a fool.

 

[EagleRJ]

The government is expressly forbidden to use CVR data for enforcement action or civil action [121.359(h)]. I can't find it in writing, but I believe airlines cannot use the data for discipline or procedures enforcement. Other data telemetry can be used for that, though.

Shortly after landing, a pilot on the Northwest plane asked if he could head for the right airport.

"We made a mistake in landing here instead of Rapid City," he says. "If it's OK with you, we can just depart. Hop over."

No! Don't make it worse than it already is! As a police officer would say, "Right now, you're just tacking on charges!". Just saying that might get these guys even more heat from the feds.

The chances of them getting their jobs back depends on a lot of their actions before landing at Ellsworth. If there were no mistakes in configuring the avionics, and if the approach is found to be misleading (as it is), they have a chance. Saying stuff like this hurts their case immensely, and lessens the chance that it will be seen as an innocent mistake.

 

[mckpickle]

Ouch....


Well we'll have to wait and see about all the circumstances surrounding this event. Obviously they've reviewed all the tapes, CVR, DFDR and ATC and made the conclusion that the pilots should be terminated. That's unfortunate. I'm just speculating but that tells me that there were things going on that must not have helped the pilots' case. Problem is if you're not following the company SOPs to the letter and you mess up like this, you're pretty much left without any defense for your actions. I would guess that NW has procedures in place that if followed may have prevented this unfortunate incident. I think a lot of times folks get canned not because they made a mistake, but because they didn't follow company procedures and then made the mistake because of that which is a double no-no.

Spoken like an FO thats not worth his own weight in gas.

 

[coolyokeluke]

Stiffler's mom I agree. We're all one mistake away (that starts the accident chain) from having a very black mark on our careers in a fiercly competitive job market and being in the unemployment line for good. What are the chances these guys would screw up again? They're probably going to be the most careful pilots out there. This is managment covering their collective arse to make it seem they're "doing something".

 

[mesaba2425]

They deserve to be fired. A NWA landing at the wrong airport is inexcusable.

 

[MJG]

Spoken like an FO thats not worth his own weight in gas.

Now Steve,

That's not a very nice thing to say to the Captain who let you jumpseat home on my airplane the other night. Careful where you throw stones. They might just hit one of your own.

 

[BornAgainPagan]

Spoken like an FO thats not worth his own weight in gas.

Alright CAPTAIN Pickle, your cryptic post has piqued my curiosity. Let's hear how anything he said has to do with first officers. Then, perhaps, you can say why you (apparently) disagree.

 

[mckpickle]

All I'm saying here is we all F up. By the good graces of god My screw ups have been caught by others before they made headlines. Bottom line is we don't know the situation. We don't know if they were tired, wx conditions, or many other things that may have led up to this. Second guessing these guys when we weren't there isn't going to help. Maybe the captain should be dequalled for 6 months. Retrained and had his balls busted all over the place. But ending two pilots careers for a simple mistake, that didn't cause bodily harm is a bit harsh. And bashing them in public behind screen names is pretty easy to do.

 

[mckpickle]

Now Steve,

That's not a very nice thing to say to the Captain who let you jumpseat home on my airplane the other night. Careful where you throw stones. They might just hit one of your own.

And the ride is very much appreciated. It just seemed like you were bashing the guys for a screw up. My bad, as I re-read your post you wern't being too hard on them. I'm a little over sensitive from flying with all these new guys that have all the anwsers to the industry, landings, how to bed the FA, what I should have done for the last 8 years........anyway, cheers.

 

[RideTheWind]

They deserve to be fired. A NWA landing at the wrong airport is inexcusable.

mesaba2425, I hope you don't ever make a mistake in the cockpit.

Here's a brief on the incident from an earlier post.
Looks like an easy mistake to make if you're new to that approach and didn't brief it well.
Link to the approach chart they used http://naco.faa.gov/d-tpp/0409/00877VT14.PDF

06/20/2004
Pilot Mistakenly Lands At Ellsworth
A Northwest Airlines plane landed at Ellsworth Air Force Base yesterday after the pilot apparently confused it for Rapid City Regional Airport.

Since the base controls the airspace, Ellsworth officials knew the plane was in the area and prepared for a landing.

Once the plane was on the ground, the 117 passengers and five crew members waited for three hours before they could take off and land on the correct airstrip.
© 2004 Associated Press.


From the St. Paul Pioneer Press:

NORTHWEST FLIGHT ENDS UP AT AIR BASE

Passengers told not to peek as route originating in Twin Cities misses it's mark.

Robert Morrell's Northwest Airlines flight was only two minutes late Saturday departing the Twin Cities for Rapid City, S.D.

The Airbus 319 with Morrell and 116 other passengers on board didn't make up the time, but they did land within five minutes of its scheduled arrival.

But one glance out the window and Morrell wondered whether something was wrong. He saw barracks-like structures and military officials.

When none of the crew got on the intercom to welcome everyone to Rapid City, he figured something was up. When he and the other passengers were asked to pull down their window shades, he knew all was not right.

Northwest Airlines flight 1152 was sitting on the runway of Ellsworth Air Force Base, five miles and "just over the hill" from its intended destination of Rapid City Regional Airport.

After about five minutes, a voice from the cockpit broke the news to the passengers.

"He (the pilot) hemmed and he hawed and he said, 'We have landed at an Air Force base a few miles from the Rapid City airport and now we are going to figure out how we're going to get from here to there,' " Morrell said.

The figuring-out part stretched past three hours as passengers waited in the nearly full plane. During that time, military officials questioned the crew. Eventually, the captain and first officer were replaced by a different Northwest crew, which flew the passengers over the hill to the regional airport.

Northwest released little information about the incident, confirming only that the crew made an "unscheduled landing" at the military base at 12:15 p.m., Mountain Time.

"The situation is under review and we have nothing further to add," said Northwest spokesman Kurt Ebenhoch. "We're not acknowledging it was pilot error."

Morrell, a physician from Raleigh, N.C., interviewed on his cell phone during the delay, offered the consensus opinion of the passengers:

"Everyone is surmising it was pilot error. The presumption is that the pilot just landed at the wrong **CENSORED****CENSORED****CENSORED****CENSORED** airport."

Passengers were allowed to use cell phones and the lavatories but were told to draw their window shades for security purposes, Morrell explained. After the new crew came aboard, the airliner made the short flight to Rapid City, landing at 3:45 p.m., Mountain Time, three hours and 42 minutes late.

Ellsworth controls all airplanes in airspace 40 miles around the base and clears flights to land at the Rapid City airport and the base. Ellsworth confirmed with Rapid City airport officials that the Northwest plane was authorized in the airspace. The pilot was using what is called an instrument landing, according to a spokeswoman for Ellsworth. The pilot was using visual guides as well, she said.

"He was looking toward an airfield, saw one and thought it was the other," said Lt. Christine Millette. "As far as we knew, they were on track, and then they weren't."

Asked where the regional airport runway was in relation to the air base runway, Millette said, "Just over the hill."

Details about how the pilot veered off course were sketchy. It also was unclear why the crew relied on visual guides during an instrument landing. Instrument-guided approaches align a plane horizontally and vertically to the airstrip's runway and give precise guidance to an airport, said Hal Myers, a Northwest pilot and spokesman for the airline pilots union.

"If it was an instrument approach, it seems like a small likelihood you would end up at the wrong airport," Myers said.

A plane flying low as it approaches landing drops off radar. The Northwest jet was flying off radar, making its approach when the crew briefly spotted what they thought was Rapid City's airstrip. Then the plane went into the clouds, Millette said.

"So as they were coming out of the clouds, they were just about to land and they realized they were at the wrong airstrip," she said. "They said (to air controllers), 'Hey, we are landing' and within seconds they were on our airstrip."

Northwest would not discuss those details.

"We cannot confirm what they are saying and they don't speak for Northwest Airlines," Ebenhoch said.

He also declined to:

• Identify the pilots.

• Specify how long they'd been flying on Saturday.

• Specify their experience level or whether they'd ever landed at Rapid City.

• Say whether the pilots were suspended.

"We apologize to the customers for any inconvenience," he said, explaining that the passengers will receive roundtrip tickets to the destination of their choice within the lower 48 states.

The Federal Aviation Administration was contacted and is investigating, Millette said. Civilian airplanes occasionally make emergency landings at Ellsworth, she said. The last time was in March when an American Airlines jet landed at the base with mechanical difficulties.

What a krap day for that crew, they landed just Northwest of KRAP.

It's the VOR 14
http://naco.faa.gov/digital_tpp.asp?ver=0406&eff=6-10-2004&end=7-8-2004
Looks like an easy mistake to make if you're new to that approach and didn't brief it well.

Sucks to be that crew, but it's understandable to a degree. Bigger runway, closer to town, on the east side of the city - the direction from which they were approaching. The Ellsworth Approach controllers are military, and are less than no help. Some of the poorest service I've ever received has been flying into RAP. I offer this broken english, 3rd grade reading level quote as evidence:



KRAP 191752Z 17009KT 10SM OVC021 11/06 A3030 RMK AO2 SLP268

It looks pretty clear what happened, they broke out of the 2000 overcast right as they leveled at the min altitude for starting the approach, they saw a 2 mile long runway lined up with they final approach course and made the mistake of not checking the DME.

The report says nothing with the two airports being 'in line' with one another. Why, breaking out on the final approach course, would they choose the wrong airport? Were they actually aligned on final, and what if the clouds were lower than 2 grand? Were they even on altitude if they were possibly not on course?


I would have been pissed if I was a pax on that plane. Lack of professionalism in the cockpit. That is my guess.

I posted the link to the approach chart above, click on SD and RAP than click the VOR 14 and you'll see that there is a 14,000' runway lined up with their final approach course 5 miles from their destination airport.

You can also click on the ILS 13 into Ellsworth and check it out.

I would've been upset too, a crewed airplane shouldn't make that mistake, but I cannot say that I have not made mistakes before, including one where I almost landed at the wrong field.

What I've learned from this is to brief the approach better, learn the difference between an 8700' runway and a 13,500' runway, what type of approach lights should I have when I break out, I don't know Ellsworth had the lights on for runway 13, but if they did they were ALSF-1, Rapid City 14 doesn't have approach lights.

 

[U of I Tweak]

I hate to say it, but I flew in there this summer and it's not that hard to tell them apart. The runways aren't lined up, more an offest parallel. And the five miles that they are apart, doesn't look like much. I don't know how they could have missed the fact that there was another airport right there. It really looks like it's right there, and if they did have 10miles as the above metar suggested....I just don't get it. It's such an easy mistake to avoid. I don't wish them to get fired, but I have to agree with those who say there's no excuse.

 

[Swede]

Those of you who say there is NO excuse, I hope you don't become management. I don't know much about the circumstances. Maybe they were fatigued beyond all measure by horrible scheduling. Obviously, they blew it.

But THESE things happen quite often...
- T/O without clearance
- Runway incursions
- Altitude/heading deviations
- IFR approach procedure deviations
- etc, etc

You can't say that the items on this list are LESS dangerous than a successful landing at the wrong airport. No damage, no injuries. Horrible lesson learned, but firing is excessive. Guys aren't fired for the above reasons, these guys shouldn't have been fired for their flub.

 

[AA717driver]

Don't take this wrong but...

THEY HAD A F***ING MOVING MAP DISPLAY WITH NAVAIDS AND AIRPORTS AVAILABLE!!!!

I haven't read the transcript but if they didn't trust their instruments they a.) were covering up a mechanical problem or b.) had been flying the DC9 so long that didn't trust ANY FMS-equipped aircraft.

I'm sorry, there is no excuse for landing at the wrong airport with the level of technology and information they had available to them in the 319.

Personally, I think they'll get their jobs back and it was an overreaction by NWA(an airline that still suffers drunk jokes more than 10 years after the SUX/FSD--I can't remember which town it was, incident). But they should have done a bunch of time on the beach.

This is NOT one of those "there are those who have..." or "there but for the grace..." situations. It was a really, REALLY bad ***kup.TC

 

[aeronautic1]

Shoit

Poor Dumb B*stards

 

[Publishers]

Empathetic

We can be empathetic with their plight, but, these type of things are so bad from a PR standpoint, it cannot be ignored. Their are two of you, a bunch of expensive nagiational equipment, and controllers assisting.

Like the drunk America West pilots, there are things that are going to cost you your job.

 

[enigma]

Don't take this wrong but...

THEY HAD A F***ING MOVING MAP DISPLAY WITH NAVAIDS AND AIRPORTS AVAILABLE!!!!

I haven't read the transcript but if they didn't trust their instruments they a.) were covering up a mechanical problem or b.) had been flying the DC9 so long that didn't trust ANY FMS-equipped aircraft.

I'm sorry, there is no excuse for landing at the wrong airport with the level of technology and information they had available to them in the 319.

Personally, I think they'll get their jobs back and it was an overreaction by NWA(an airline that still suffers drunk jokes more than 10 years after the SUX/FSD--I can't remember which town it was, incident). But they should have done a bunch of time on the beach.

This is NOT one of those "there are those who have..." or "there but for the grace..." situations. It was a really, REALLY bad ***kup.TC

IF, big IF, they over-rode (to over -ride, ?sp?) the automation and or ignored the moving map, etc. Then I totally agree with you, AA717Driver. There really is no excuse.

I do not believe that having done so should be a fireable offense. If we/the industry, can allow recovering alcoholics to return to the cockpit, we darn sure should allow these guys to get retrained and return to work.

Good point about the DC9. OR, if they had been flying a Diesel9, this incident would have been more understandable.

I'm just glad my cone of confusion happened to happen before I became an airline pilot.

We've all screwed up, an most of the time, there was no excuse. As such, it's too bad that one screw up can cost you your job.

enigma

 

[DenverDude2002]

Probably wouldnt have been so bad IF IT HADNT BEEN FOR THE FACT THAT THEY LANDED AT THE B1B BASE and scared the living sh!t outta the US Air Force.....

 

[enigma]

We can be empathetic with their plight, but, these type of things are so bad from a PR standpoint, it cannot be ignored. Their are two of you, a bunch of expensive nagiational equipment, and controllers assisting.

Like the drunk America West pilots, there are things that are going to cost you your job.

Well, now I feel better knowing that there are things that might cost me my job. I never knew that some CS manager might want to fire me for making an unintentional mistake. Like I said, if we can re-train a drunk, why can't we just retrain someone who lost situational awareness?

I'm certain that the carrier has tens of thousands of dollars invested in training for those pilots, and I'm also certain that those pilots had no pre-meditated plan to land at the wrong airport; as such, why wouldn't the airline send em back to the schoolhouse. The pilots both passed a rigorous selection process to get hired by the airline, and since NWA hasn't hired anyone in the last three years, they most likely have a four to twenty year record of good service with the company.

Now, we're going to fire them, and replace them in their seats with two pilots who are just as likely to make the mistake that caused the firing of the first two.

How about we just add a "how not to land at the wrong airport" module to recurrent?'

BUT NO, some manager feels the need for blood. Well, what goes around comes around. If not in this life, then in the next.

enigma

 

[100LL... Again!]

When you demand that kind of compensation from your employer, justifying it with arguments of how professional you are and how you hold hundreds of lives in your hands, expect the employer to ask to get what they pay for.

This is not a simple altitude deviation.

This certainly cost NWA a lot of money, damaged their reputation to the flying public, etc.

I think termination is a little harsh, but I understand the company's position.

When you demand a lot, be prepared to deliver, or be prepared not to have your services required any longer.

 

[AKAAB]

Point of order - moving maps do not automatically display all the airports around you. Is it possible that the AF base was not displayed?

Some operators currently do not display any airports that they do not maintain charts for. I know, it doesn't make sense to not display valuable concrete for emergencies or situational awareness.

AKAAB

 

[enigma]

When you demand that kind of compensation from your employer, justifying it with arguments of how professional you are and how you hold hundreds of lives in your hands, expect the employer to ask to get what they pay for.

They did get what they pay for, live passengers. They LANDED on the wrong piece of pavement. Doing so holds much less potential for disaster than managements penchant for red-eye scheduling etc. Besides, they could have crashed on the correct piece of pavement, would you fire them then?

This is not a simple altitude deviation.

No, but they didn't commit an intentional error either.

This certainly cost NWA a lot of money, damaged their reputation to the flying public, etc.

So, now we terminate for embarrassing the company? unintentionally?

I think termination is a little harsh, but I understand the company's position.

When you demand a lot, be prepared to deliver, or be prepared not to have your services required any longer.

Using that logic, why not just fire all of the pilots, those suckers might screw up and embarrass us.

This is a perfect example of the value of a union. You get to have some protection from vengance seeking managers who couldn't pull off a safe flight if their sorry arse depended upon it.

Mistakes happen. Retrain, and go on.

These guys missed something. But did they throw normal safe operating procedures out of the window? Did the ignore repeated signs of impending disaster? Did they fail to see repeated teletale signs that they were about to make an error?

I would agree with the firing if these guys had pulled a SWA/Burbank deal. Those SWA guys ignored: SOP, stabilized approach/mandatory GA guidance, and common sense. Their firing was defensible. These guys were apparently on a non-precision final approach course and saw a runway where they expected a runway to be, so they made a successful landing. Slap their hand and return them to the ranks of your productive employees.

Heck, Spirit had a crew flameout/stall/something, an airplane at altitude in 2002. They were not fired. The company gave them a chance to go through some training and get back to work. Unfortunately, the didn't pass retraining, but it wasn't because the company didn't give them a chance.

enigma

 

[FN FAL]

Heck, Spirit had a crew flameout/stall/something, an airplane at altitude in 2002. They were not fired. The company gave them a chance to go through some training and get back to work. Unfortunately, the didn't pass retraining, but it wasn't because the company didn't give them a chance.

enigma

Didn't pass retraining? How about the Beech 99 one of those jokers banged up after they left Spirt? Should we have a "three strikes and you're out" law?

I met one of those two guys from the Spirit "incident" personally, but I only knew him for a short time...didn't last long as freight dog.

CHI04LA042On December 16, 2003, about 0730 central standard time, a Beech 99, N399CZ, operated as Freight Runners Express flight 1544 from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to Mosinee, Wisconsin, sustained substantial damage during a hard landing on runway 8 (7,645 feet by 150 feet, concrete) at Central Wisconsin Airport (CWA), near Mosinee, Wisconsin. The 14 CFR Part 135 non-scheduled domestic cargo flight was operating on an instrument flight rules (IFR) flight plan. Instrument meteorological conditions prevailed at the time of the accident. The airline transport pilot reported no injuries. The flight originated from General Mitchell International Airport, near Milwaukee, Wisconsin, about 0630 and was landing at CWA at the time of the accident.

The pilot stated:
On approach to rwy 8 at CWA I got high [and] right of course.
When I broke out of clouds around 1000 [feet above ground level] I
saw the runway, realizing I was high I pulled the power back [and]
increased my rate of descent. I started to arrest my rate of descent
[and] add power to keep my speed up. The engines didn't spool up
in time resulting in a hard [landing]. I noticed the right wing was a
little low taxing in so I thought maybe I blew a tire on landing. Not
until I shut down [and] got out did I realize I hit the prop about an
inch back [and] the engine nacelle dropped down several inches in
front.

The pilot reported that the flight did not have any mechanical malfunctions.

At 0645, the CWA recorded weather was: Wind 330 degrees at 8 knots; visibility 4 statute miles; present weather light snow; sky condition overcast 300 feet; temperature 1 degree C; dew point -1 degree C; altimeter 29.41 inches of mercury.

At 0755, the CWA recorded weather was: Wind 330 degrees at 15 knots gusting to 20 knots; visibility 4 statute miles; present weather light snow; sky condition broken 1,200 feet, overcast 2,500 feet; temperature -2 degrees C; dew point -4 degrees C; altimeter 29.44 inches of mercury.

As far as the NWA crew getting fired, I really don't know or have enough information. I am kind of riding the fence post...yea, I can see where no harm done, slap the wrist and get back to business...and I can kind of see where the company has an issue with it. Firing does seem a little steep, I guess time will tell if the Union can get these guy's their job back.