The co-pilot of a Southwest Airlines aircraft has retired since the Jan. 12 incident the Associated Press reported Monday. The captain of the plane is still on the job.
Both pilots, who flew for the airline for 12 years have been off the job with pay since the occurrence.
According to The Houston Chronicle, the captain began with Southwest in 1999 and did not fly into Branson Airport prior to Sunday's incident. The flight's first officer began in 2001, and had only been to Branson once.
The 124 passengers on Southwest Airlines flight 4013 had planned to travel from Midway International Airport in Chicago to Hollister, MO, but rather flew into Taney County Airport also known as M. Graham Clark Downtown Airport in Branson, MO the AP reported. The airport's runway measures 3,738 feet according to the airport's website. Branson's airport runway measures 7,140 feet its website reported.
Southwest reportedly expected the 737-700 aircraft to depart at 1 p.m. the next day after its mistake the AP reported at the time.
"As soon as we touched down the pilot applied the brake very hard and very forcibly," Scott Schieffer, a 36-year-old attorney from Dallas told KSPR at the time of the Jan. 12 incident. "I thought, 'Well, this is a very short runway and this must be how he has to land," Schieffer told KSPR. "I was wearing a seatbelt but I was lurched forward because of the heavy pressure of the brake. You could smell burnt rubber, a very distinct smell of burnt rubber as we were stopping," Schieffer told KSPR."It was surreal when I realized we could have been in real danger and instead of an inconvenience, it could have been a real tragedy."
Southwest and its partner airline AirTran oversee over 3,600 flight daily according to information on Southwest's website.
