SWA tactics on the ramp and taxiways

[kelbill]

I'm bored and just got back from a late trip, so I'll take the bait. Ty, you need to remember to only take 1/2 a Prozac, not the whole thing. Been at SWA 4 1/2 years, flown with 250 Captains I guess, and I have never seen or been told to play games with ATC, usually quite the opposite. Get a grip.

 

[b747dogg]

I cut TY WEBB off every time I see him on the ramp!!!

Maybe it's just you.

 

[Huck]

ASA had a DFW-based captain about 10 years ago that got cut off by an AA MD-80 and responded by gunning it and playing chicken. In fact I think the FO had to hit the brakes and yank the throttles. He got some time off to think about it.

BTW I wish we were all as unsafe as SWA - think how many planes and people would have been saved over the years....

 

[LearLove]

... deleted by myself, it just doesn't matter........

 

[Krusty]

I have one also,

in MHT, the taxi way goes to the end ofcourse and has a 90 deg turn, well there is a 45 deg taxiway adjacent to it going directly to the runway end.

well we taxied out first, 5 min. and got to the end at the 90, and called in ready to go, at that moment out of the blue, there was SWA at v1 approaching us and called the tower that they were ready to go, they already had turned for the 45 deg taxiway. the tower replied to SWA, taxi into position and hold. I responded that we were ready in sequence before SW approached the end. A SW pilot laughed on the radio, no voice , just a laugh.

then tower cleared them to take off. we eventually were cleared to go, before we called to taxi out, I asked is this standard practice here for SW, and was there a need for SW to go first, ie wheels up time, flow control, etc.?

there was no responce from tower except have a good day, airbourne i asked for the tower managers name, of course i was pissed now. he said he wasn't on duty, have a good day....


what kind of sh/t is that?

 

[FlyBoeingJets]

SWADude and all other SWA folks,

OK, The gig is up and Ty caught us!

He has figured out that we practice the "lost comm" taxi procedure during our PC's and that our FOM directs us to "cut off all aircraft, especially Airtran, while taxiing to/from runways". That the FAA gives all SWA aircraft that use the "super-secret double mic click" prority handling and slows down all "green and white aircraft in the vicinity".

BUT, be careful, has not caught on to "Project Mayhem". Mum is the word.

First rule of Fight Club is "Don't talk about Fight Club!"



And, in all seriousness, I have not seen what Ty is talking about in my civilian flying. I've seen it on Military ramps though!

 

[Getter]

I've seen it from the left and right seat, but not from a SWA seat, if that is really important (...oh ya 1,000 turbine PIC, I guess it is). Anyway, SWA does seem to taxi faster than everyone else & seems to rush. For better or worse ...it works for them. I've never experienced any real rudeness, however, or been cutoff.

 

[Jim Smyth]

Well lets see, ground control controls the ground traffic. So how do we cut you off? Maybe thats exactly what they want us to believe..............Get a life!

 

[WillowRunVortex]

WE had a fed jumpseating with us one day in a ratty o'l DC9,,,he was checking every friggin post lamp to see if it worked. Then,,,like a gift from heaven Southwest goes by on the taxi-way at like 40 KTS,,,my capt at the time made a wonderful comment,,,"Jeeze if we taxied like that you guys would put us in jail". ALL attention was immediatly diverted to the Southwest plane.

It broke the ice and the fed lightened up a bit for the rest of the flight. Thanks Southwest!

 

[saabcaptain]

In 6 years at MDW I have never seen any behavior like Ty describes with any airline, let alone SWA. I have seen many, many times where long after our turboprop is sitting at the hold short line we got skipped, sometimes multiple times in a row, by ATC in favor of a SWA aircraft approaching the hold short from the other side at Mach 1. Yes, there was much grumbling and assumptions of favoritism but THAT IS HARDLY THE FAULT OF THE SWA CREWS.

I would say that part of the reason ATC favored them was that they always went out of their way to make sure they never caused ATC a problem and always expedited anything ATC needed. Maybe it was the SWA mugs or pizza given to the tower, who knows. Now I think other carriers, ATA and Chicago Express in specific, did the same kind of things for ATC (always being helpful, keeping speeds up etc.) but it comes down to there was 140 people vs. 34 people to inconvienced thing and when it came time to decide who gets to depart ATC was going to help out the greater number. Maybe not fair, but it is a reality.

While I am sure you could find some example of the behavior Ty spoke of at SWA, I am sure you could find it at AirTran, UAL, you name it. I for one have never seen it and think it is pretty lousy to say it is a common SWA practice when IMHO nothing could be further from the truth.