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wrong airport

P

packnrat

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Sep 14, 2011
Location
california
Moto(s)
2004 FZ1
1993 klr 650
1978 xl 350
ok i can understand how a privet pilot can screw-up and land at the wrong airport.

but how can a commercial (passenger) jet 727 land at the wrong airport???
with gps, radar, radios, and there own eyes. i do not get it.

do ALL runways look the same?
big commercial and small plane airports,
asphalt and concreat,
lights look the same?
numbers the same?

are the printed maps that f-up,
computer driven app maps in the cockpits?
does a 1000 ft runway look the same as a 7000 ft runway from the air?

not a pilot, hell i do not even play pilot games on the computer,

but i would like to fly a plane...at least a rc one.

.
 
There was one of these a month ago- you talking about the same incident or was there another one?

I went flying with my old boss when he landed on the wrong runway- I pointed it out to him during approach. ATC pointed out to him on landing. :rofl At least we were at the right airport. (No- I don't have my ticket.)
 
not sure of the date it happened. just on the news tonight.
but there was footage of the plane leaving the small airport (plane was mty).

.
 
This is a new one, he missed Branson airport by about six miles. The two runways are close to the same direction. He must have caught the glide slope and flown it by hand from that point. Six miles at 200 mph is only 30 seconds difference.
 
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it's surprisingly easy to get confused still. from the air, and esp in kansas, everything looks the same. in the Wichita incident, the pink gps line basically went straight north over 3 airports relatively close to each other all in alignment making it easy to get confused. most the runways in kansas are lined up north to south as well. all the roads are in a huge checkerboard grid.

even commercial planes are not pre-programmed. they fly what air traffic controllers tell them to. even if they wanted to fly automated, it still requires a lot of button pushing and programming. on a clear night, the controller probably told them land runway 36. letting the copilot line her up and land is easier than all the programming and button pushing.
 
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I'll have to ask my coworker to try this landing on his flight simulator setup.

Can you land a 737 here without stacking it? :laughing
 
russ69 said:
This is a new one, he missed Branson airport by about six miles. The two runways are close to the same direction. He must have caught the glide slope and flown it by hand from that point. Six miles at 200 mph is only 30 seconds difference.
Click to expand...

Truth. 6 miles isn't a huge difference especially if the runways are situated the same (runways are named at particular airports by their direction in degrees. Two runways with the same orientation 6 miles apart is not a hard mistake to make. Now mistaking a 7000 foot runway with a 3700 foot runway is a harder mistake to make. One things for sure, those are good pilots to get a 737-700 into 3700 feet.
 
Most runways do look pretty similar from the air, especially at night, but I think it is crazy this stuff happens with GPS.
 
Depart the localizer too soon? Doesnt VFR still require IFR until the field is in sight? Otherwise this would happen all the time, no?
 
Owensdad said:
Depart the localizer too soon? Doesnt VFR still require IFR until the field is in sight? Otherwise this would happen all the time, no?
Click to expand...

No, people often concuse VFR, with VMC, and IFR with IMC.

Airliners almost always fly under Instrument Flight rules (IFR), regardless if the weather is Instrument meteorological conditions (IMC), or visual meteorological conditions (VMC). They hardly ever fly under visual flight rules (VFR). You can shoot a visual approach when you are on an instrument flight plan, but the weather must be VMC.

If they had the localizer tuned in and were following it, it should have prevented their mistake. It is not required for them to follow the localizer, or even have it tuned in their receiver unless they are doing an ILS or LOC approach, but as you can see it would be a good idea for them to use it anyways.
 
I am just an observer and even though I Realize how people can get confused just by looking at pretty lights from the air, in the dark,..

here is the article (which probably is the same BayArea News that prompted the OP to make the thread) and here is the quote with DID catch my eye:
NOT Unusual... ??? :) parhaps... like I said-- Pretty lights, "easy"???

"“It’s a matter of a flight crew letting its guard down,” Earl Weener, a member of the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board who isn’t involved in the Branson probe, said yesterday in an interview at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit. “It’s not unusual. I wish it were.”
"

http://www.sfgate.com/business/bloo...tion-Called-Recurring-Theme-After-5140415.php

p.s. "The pilots, who have been with Southwest for 26 years between them".. heck why does it matter if it's years between them. It could've been the same average learning curve of 13 years for each of them. :)
 
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I wonder what those guys new nicknames will be ? " compass" , "maps" , "GPS", "lost", "close enough", ???
 
I remember when I moved to my new house, I still drove to my old house 1 time.

You get in a routine. Maybe he was doing runs from SFO to LAX for 20 years. Then switched to something else?

Brain fart!
 
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