"Bucky" wrote in message
oups.com...
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060620/...west_runway_dc

Excerpts:

"Veteran Capt. Bruce Sutherland and first officer Steven Oliver decided
to bring the Boeing 737 down on December 8 despite snow, conflicting
reports on runway conditions, and their initial indecision about using
the aircraft's automatic braking system, which could mean a more abrupt
stop... Sutherland felt he was not familiar enough with the enhanced
braking system to use it in bad weather and the two spent a long time
reviewing calculations to see if they could land safely in Chicago...
The safety board has been looking at when the pilots activated the
engine thrust reversers, which help slow a plane once it's down. They
were turned on 18 seconds after touchdown; Four or five seconds is
common."


I believe this last sentence does not accurately explain what may have
happened.

The thrust reversers did not *deploy* until sometime after touchdown
(possibly due to lack of wheel spin up.) This does not mean they weren't
"selected/activated" ASAP on landing.

Jay B