Southwest Headquarters Tour

I flew Southwest to my first tech conference in August of 2017 and quickly learned how beneficial conferences would be to my career. In the early days, I had a shoestring budget, and would often apply for financial aid. The combination of Southwest’s Wanna Get Away tickets and flexible travel credit policy enabled me to attend many conferences. A few weeks ago, I was offered the chance to tour Southwest Headquarters along with other fans. I jumped at the chance. I knew it would be a once-in-a-lifetime experience! Our tour group gathered in the lobby of the LEAD Center (Leadership, Education, and Aircrew Development)! Our sweet host Carlye Thornton is the second from the left. Dallas LEAD Center is one of 13 facilities around the US where Southwest flight attendants complete training. In addition to learning the typical service you see in a cabin, they practice land and sea evacuation, emergency tool use, fire fighting, and self defense. They return annually for short, refresher training that is regularly updated to address real world trends. In this sea evacuation area, a replica of a 100 pound raft inflates to half its normal height. The flight attendants are not required to be good swimmers. The life vest will do its job. In this fire fighting area, we saw an oxygen hood demo and learned different methods of exinguishing fire. Flight attendants are taught to find the base of the fire. These Vintage uniforms are among what must be thousands of pictures and momentos covering Southwest campus walls. The pilot uniform shop. We later learned that sadly only 6% of Southwest pilots are women, which is in line with the industry as a whole. Southwest supports the Women in Aviation organization and would love to see that change. Our tour guide Glenn introducing us to a mockup plane used for training It’s not as easy as it looks. Tour participants volunteered to give the safety demonstration a try! Flight attendants are required to demonstrate a mastery of emergency procedures and equipment. Emergency door demo and evacuation slide Southwest pilots must be able to put an oxygen mask on with one hand in eight seconds while their other hand is on the controls. They can have a moustache, but not a full beard, in order to be able to create the necessary seal. This testing station accommodates different masks for different types of airplanes. This fixed-motion simulator was our first simulator experience. 23 are in use and cost $1 million each. Next, we saw full-motion CAE 737 series 700, 800, and MAX 8 simulators. As we watched, a simulator would rise up, tip back, and rotate at angles that simulate real flight. An instructor saw our group and invited us inside of one for a look. Inside a full-motion CAE 800 series simulator. These simulators can be programmed to fly any route and can replicate special scenarios such as ETOPs (extended range, over-water, such as Hawaii) and emergencies. While real “turbine hours” can be logged in this simulator, it can also cause real motion sickness. Ask them about the chickens hanging from the bottom. Me in front of a full-motion CAE 700 series simulator with the bridge raised, a sign that it is in-use. Me at one end of the hall. There are 26 simulators here. Each one costs $14.2 million. Given the risk to operations and equipment, this building could withstand an F3 tornado. Garage-like doors descend and inside, it is business as usual. The walls around the Network Command Center are fortified with 12 inch concrete. Thank you Southwest for a delicious complimentary lunch in the cafeteria! An adult onesie that was a crowd favorite in the Southwest Shop Before the afternoon tour began, I began to ask our host Carlye, “You know what I love about Southwest social media…?” She pointed out that the social media experts were standing right next to us. I had the opportunity to compliment them on the warm and fuzzy Southwest stories that no other brand does better. Our tour group was riveted by the Network Operations Center (NOC) livestream (NOC is undergoing construction), and bombarded our tour guide Jake with questions. Our session took place in a Situation Room where chief officers from each operational area convene three times a day to address flight issues. Jake shared that he prefers troubleshooting over business-as-usual. All of a sudden a runway might have a pothole and 10 planes are backed up, and he is scrambling to alleviate. It is an adrenaline rush. A scheduling optimization tool called “The Baker” was also a topic of interest. A livestream of the Southwest Network Operations Center. Although there are other small Southwest command centers around the U.S., there is only one Network Operations Center, the operational brain of Southwest. All of the coordination needed to plan and fulfill flights across the network happens here. In addition to flight dispatchers who plan and monitor flights, experts across disciplines plan and monitor flight schedule, crew, a

Southwest Headquarters Tour

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