Southwest and Midway ... a time to pause

The recent tragedy at Chicago's Midway International Airport when a Southwest airliner stopped beyond the fence and landed in a nearby street intersection, killing a young boy in a vehicle, is a cause for reflection. In the general media, its an opportunity to jump on runway lengths. Someone said something like, Midway's runways are shorter than a commercial airport of similar size. That's all CNN & Company needed to jump on what must be the cause lack of pavement. Perhaps an issue, but this window brings in a vast array of concerns, and arguments (ATC modernization, better zoning laws, the need for cockpit/GPS navigation are a few that come to mind). From NTSB and other reports about what actually happened (at this point), it appears a winter storm situation was further exasperated by turbulent, changing winds. Recent reports indicate that controllers were considering changing runway patterns as the Southwest airliner approached. A tailwind and faulty reverse thrusters may in time prove to be the cause of the accident. Of course, 5,000 more feet of runway could have helped avert a tragedy. Midway International Airport sits embedded in the neighborhoods of South Chicago. Its fence, which abuts major city roads on all sides, is little barrier to overrunning aircraft. It's a tribute to Midway staffers and the U.S. air transportation system that an airport of this magnitude can operate so smoothly, and incident free, on a daily basis, when surrounded by population. But this, in reality, is not good planning. No matter how safe U.S. air transportation is, situations like this are merely a bet against long-term odds. From the editorial seat, this only helps emphasize the need for regional planning, particularly in a city with a history as a transportation center. It gets back to a recent entry in this space that questioned the expansion currently underway at O'Hare International. According to reports, one of the considerations in redirecting airliners at Midway to different runways during the storm was that the change would have caused a logjam in the Chicago airspace, as it would have interfered with O'Hare airspace concerns. Point is, the two are interconnected. The point gives credence to the argument that there's a need for true regional planning in the Chicago area, and in regions across the country, because current capacity can't handle the future. In Chicago, the answer is a third commercial airport, one not limited by runway configurations and population density; in other cities, the answer may be tapping an underutilized regional airport. Thanks for reading.