TheBOSman

It is the 4th window aft of the exit door. My best guess would be row 14, specifically 14A. Row 11 is lined up with the exit row door on the ABC side, row 12 at the window behind the exit door. Row 13 has two windows. So, that puts this window at row 14.

drewguy

From this photo it appears the window was well back from the engine - probably row 15 (seat A). [I defer to poster above who is more familiar with this plane]

cheung.chunyuenc

I am shocked by the photos and videos
hope the injured passengers recover soon

TheBOSman

I flew a 737-700 with WN in February but I'm not a regular on WN. Was going off the window count from photos like the one you posted, and an online video walkthrough:

screeton

What makes you think that they were NOT wearing a seat belt? How many seatbelts have you experienced where the latch closes but slides with no resistance back and forth along the length of the belt webbing (the adjustment from "small pax" to COS?) Way too early for this kind of speculation of what deceased pax was or was not doing. A tragedy for the family of deceased, and sad day for an airline with an enviable safety record.

jmastron

You're kidding, right? We don't know the passenger wasn't wearing a seatbelt at the time (an explosive decompression of a single window is a LOT of force, and could pull someone partially out even seated, could break the seatbelt mount, etc. And the plane was at cruise; it's entirely reasonable for someone to have been in the process of getting up to use the restroom, or to have the belt on a bit looser than during takeoff/landing. It's ridiculous to start blaming the victim without any evidence whatsoever. Same for a heart attack or any other medical issues caused by a traumatic scare and a sudden huge air pressure change.

We *do* know that Southwest's airplane had an uncontained engine failure --something that by design should never ever happen. Engineers and airplane mechanics are paid a *lot* of money to ensure that engines fail only very rarely, and when they do the broken parts are able to be contained, because the consequences otherwise can be deadly. Whether the failure was in maintenance and inspection, or in the underlying design will eventually be determined.

So yes, until some extreme evidence to the contrary, any deaths or injuries in this incident squarely "fall on SW airlines". IMHO.

1P

What an arse-ish thing to say. You cannot know whether or not she was wearing a seat belt. In the event of sudden depressurization and a passenger being partially sucked out of the window, I should think wearing the belt was the only thing that gave the other passengers around her enough time to hold her in. And sudden depressurization could certainly cause a heart attack. Similarly, you cannot know whether the engine explosion was caused by poor maintenance on the part of SW. NTSB will doubtless find out everything in due course.

In the meantime, I'm sure we all express sympathy to the nine passengers who were injured, and condolences to the relatives and friends of the one who died.

NoStressHere

I would agree with few other comments about the seat belt.

Also, reports indicated the person was PARTIALLY sucked out. Until we see more reports, we do not know if that means their arm went out the window, or they were actually suck into or against the open hole (window).

TheBOSman

Yeah, I can only say for myself that I'm likely too damn big of a person to fit out a 737-700 window (roughly 10 inches by 14 inches). One of my limbs or my head/neck could go out, but my shoulders/trunk are likely too large to fit out of a window, even with significant force, as long as the fuselage remains intact and does not bend/warp. At 10 inches by 14 inches, I'm guessing many adult human beings are also similarly too large to go through just a 737 window.

steved5480

How many OTHER airline CEOs have this much class?

toomanybooks

What else are you gonna do as you plummet to your possible demise?

Maybe that video/audio recording could help the NTSB figure something out about the incident. Who knows?

eng3

He didn't have to be filming anything. That's my point. I'm sure there are other things that could be done like listening for crew instructions, stowing away loose items (like cellphones), etc. But that's just my opinion

TheBOSman

It's a different scenario, in that sadly the passengers did not see the accident coming, but the film photos developed from the cameras of the passengers on board Air New Zealand 901 in 1979 did assist those investigating the accident:

I would not have the phone out during the moments before the emergency landing for obvious reasons, but having it out during the descent is not really any more or less dangerous than doing so during your typical non-emergency descent and landing which many of us have experienced hundreds and hundreds of times (405 for me personally). Once you're aware of the brace position for your seat (and exit row duties for those in those positions), you're really left only to sit back and wait until the landing attempt is made.

GarlicFlyer

Class? I recall reading of multiple FAA fines against Southwest due to maintenance issues.

ehallison

^ I'm impressed with how quickly they got this out, and the fact that he delivered it on video instead of just issuing an impersonal news release or tweet.