Airline warned of deadly #23 runway before crash.
Southwest Airlines warned its pilots just weeks before the crash of a commuter flight in Buffalo about safety issues with so-called instrument approaches at the airport. The warning concerned runway 23 , the same runway the crashed commuter plane was lined up to use. Instrument approaches are those in which pilots use cockpit displays to line up their aircraft with the runway when visibility is low. The alert, reissued Wednesday by the airline's pilot association, warned Southwest pilots there was a "potentially significant hazard" concerning the instrument landing system's glide slope guidance signal for runway 23. The airline advised, "Pilots who are preparing to configure and land have the potential to experience abrupt pitch up, slow airspeed, and approach to stall if conditions present themselves in a certain manner." Southwest Airlines spokesperson Linda Rutherford said an earthen dam at the end of the runway was interfering with the signal being s...