Does Southwest Land the Best?

[dirtydog1006]

I have sat through (literally) a string of hard landings on Southwest. In fact, I cannot think of any exception: the crews seem to drop their 737s on from three, four, five feet up. Every time. I cornered a SW captain in the terminal lobby once, to ask if this were some company policy. You know, get the weight on the wheels fast to help a quick turnaround. Or, did they prefer to hire ex-navy jocks: You know, "Fly down final until you feel a thud..." Or have they all been to the Goodrick school of landing? (Just kidding, Tom!)
He asked if I were a pilot. I said no, although I was once shown how to get emergency power in an L-16 (Blow hard on the windshield.) Then he tried to blind me with talk of energy dispersion. One of those times you nod, smile, and say Thanks! This last time, deplaning, I told the crew, "Nice three-wire!" We all had a good laugh. Has anyone else noticed this about Southwest, or am I just on a 'lucky' streak?

[louross]

It's the luck of the draw. You happen to hit the hard landings. Seems like in flying the big ones, the harder you try, the harder the landing. You can shoot a series of greasers, then a series of hard ones, and whatever. I've seen seasoned veterans make hard landings, and new comers grease it on. It boils down to good luck, or bad luck.
But it has nothing to do with competence.
lr.

[Tom Goodrick]

The only Southwest pilot I know is a former Navy jock and a former astronaut - Hoot Gibson.