Landing at the wrong airport...

[FlyChicaga]

Originally Posted by Duksrule

Back in I think 90 or 91 it all runs together..... Anyway I was on the IKE and my airwing was the last ones with A-7s. The Saratoga was out with us and they had the shiny new F-18s. Imagine everyones surprise when we had a hornet in the break. Yeap guy landed on the wrong boat. We zapped the hell out of that plane and sent him home.

"Zapped the hell out of that plane..." That's awesome!

[Freightdog1]

Anyone been to El Paso? It's been a long time for me but my first time there I thought I was seeing double. There's almost a duplicate airport a few miles to the north I believe. A military base from what I remember. It would be soooo easy to screw up and land there.

[Blackhawk]

Originally Posted by Freightdog1

Anyone been to El Paso? It's been a long time for me but my first time there I thought I was seeing double. There's almost a duplicate airport a few miles to the north I believe. A military base from what I remember. It would be soooo easy to screw up and land there.

BIF (Biggs Army Airfield) with runway 21; ELP has runway 22. Approach will often tell airplanes approaching about Biggs to prevent them from landing there. At least once a week you also hear them tell an airliner they are lined up with the wrong runway.

[pilotnate23]

Don't forget Ellsworth AFB and Rapid City Regional Airport....yes NWA mistakenly landed at Ellsworth a few years ago. He was on the VOR approach to 14 at RAP, broke out of the clouds and saw a runway and landed. The final approach course for that approach goes right over the base.

[ATCtexas]

We have a similar situation where I'm at with an closed AFB near the airport with the same runway layout. If we see an aircraft headed to that airport we say something like "it appears your heading to the closed AFB". That has happened twice with an airline when I was working. I also had a citation coming from a direction where he looked like he was coming to the airport but would be overflying the closed AFB. I got a confused, "ah, approach?" "I am lining up for the runway in front of me, but my GPS shows I am still 14 miles from the airport." DING DING DING! That's the first clue. If you have the equipment to verify USE IT! If something doesn't look right, ASK!

[HercDriver130]

I was flying into a small uncontrolled Army Air Field Near Boston many many years ago... we had to shoot this vor approach to get in.... ON the final approach dourse several miles short of the AAF is another smallish muni airport with the same runway layout... we even commented that night as we were shooting the approach that it would be possible to screw that up if you didnt keep good SA. Low and behold in the ops building at said AAF there was a notice on a board there with a notice about the similiar looking airfield. The ops guy told us ( this was 1988 ) that several years earlier a 130 crew had indeed landed there then took off and came on over. I have no idea what the result of all that was but it probably wasnt not good.

[madmax]

One of our local controllers used to work at SFO Tower and said that the chain of airports south of SFO caused a lot of mixed approaches. They had phones that were direct lines to the other tower so they could call and check if they had an extra plane in the pattern.

[Velocipede]

Originally Posted by Bigey

Imagine talking to the tower.

CAL: "Tower, we're on kilo can we get directions to the gate?"
Tower: "Uh i dont see you, take next available taxiway and hold"
CAL: "Uhh tower, we're holding, but i just see some F-15s"
Tower: "Uhh alright, just continue holding, Contact Cabaniss on 124.75 good luck, and i hope you keep your job!"

There are no F-15s as Cabiness. A T-44 or two (maybe), but no fighters.

[Denny]

Not to be a Monday morning quarterback or anything because I can see it how it can happen at some locations. All of the airports I fly to have an ILS or a localizer approach. I always, always use that for every approach mainly because I'm just to lazy to look out the window until short final. The localizer always takes me to the correct runway at the correct airport. I've flown to El Paso many, many times and I couldn't point out the AFB to you if you paid me and the same with all the airports around SFO.

I see so many of my fellow pilots craning their necks looking for the runway and turning off all of the automation when cleared for a visual. I never look for the runway. I just follow the purple line on the EHSI or the flight director in a hardball panel and it always leads me to the right place. Gives me altitudes and speeds as well!

So not to criticize because it can happen. But I've been flying for 35 years and I have yet to land at the wrong airport but I can see how it can happen. That's why I always, always use everything I have in the cockpit to point me to the right place. Looking out the windows is a pointless exercise.

[vheissu]

Originally Posted by Denny

Looking out the windows is a pointless exercise.

On a Visual Approach??

[LoadMasterC141]

This is funny stuff. I had no idea how prevalent this kind of mistake could be. Is it really that easy to land at the wrong airport?

[Denny]

Originally Posted by vheissu

On a Visual Approach??

Especially on a visual. Usually. At my airline we are required to brief at least the basics of the instrument approach when it is a visual. What nav-aids we will be using, etc. It has been my experience that guys doing a purely visual without using the backup instruments will almost always screw it up. They'll get too low or high, slow or fast without at least trying to hit the already established points on a published approach.

Another anecdote and why I never do a pure visual unless it is the last resort; when I was an F/O we were going into LAX late one night. We were doing the visual to 24R and 24L was closed for construction so all the lights were out on that runway. The captain had the ILS tuned up, the flight director on and everything else that we always do. But he lined up on the public street that runs parallel to 24R because he was so used to seeing two sets of lights and that road looks just like a runway from a few miles out. I told him he was right of course, the ILS was showing right of course and the flight director was commanding a left turn. All of that still didn't give him a clue. He insisted he was lined up perfectly for 24R. So we kept going for that road and I again told him he was lined up on a road to the north of the airport. He insisted I was wrong. I asked him to look at his ILS and FD and trust them and not his eyes. By that time we were on about a 1 mile final and he finally decided that maybe he was confused. On about a 1/2 mile final he finally saw the runway and the road became obvious. He was looking out the window the whole time. I was looking inside the whole time. That's why I don't look out the window.

Same with traffic most of the time. The TCAS sees the traffic long before I ever can and it gives me altitude and distance on the scope on the panel. My eyes aren't that good. Every time I have been the non flying pilot and we get a traffic resolution I have had to assertively command the flying pilot to follow the directions the TCAS is exhorting. They always say they see it but I say that what they are looking at might not be the problem traffic.

Of course, there are always exceptions and I do use my eyes and look outside and double check everything but the information presented inside the cockpit is almost always more accurate than your eyes. I trust that stuff when I'm IMC and on CAT III approaches so why wouldn't I trust it when it is visual? If you use what you have in the cockpit and have it set up right it will always take you to where you want to go. I use my outside visual cues as a backup and not a primary source of information.

[Seggy]

Originally Posted by LoadMasterC141

Is it really that easy to land at the wrong airport?

Yup.

[Doug Taylor]

Originally Posted by LoadMasterC141

This is funny stuff. I had no idea how prevalent this kind of mistake could be. Is it really that easy to land at the wrong airport?

Oh hell yes. I did a sweet visual approach to Offut AFB one day until the controller insisted I join the LOC at Omaha.

[v1valarob]

Originally Posted by Freightdog1

Anyone been to El Paso? It's been a long time for me but my first time there I thought I was seeing double. There's almost a duplicate airport a few miles to the north I believe. A military base from what I remember. It would be soooo easy to screw up and land there.

ATP flight school uses El Paso as a gas up point for XC's. Before we start our cross countries they give us this huge packet with all the airports and all the little things we need to know, and El Paso's had a HUGE warning about not landing at the wrong airport. Good thing I had read it. My partner was the PF and was cleared for the traffic pattern since it was blue skies and not a cloud in sight. He insisted at first the base was the airport we where going to. I assured him that the northern airport was the base, and southern was the civilian. It took about 30 seconds of convincing before he agreed with me. Besides the fact that we could see commercial airline traffic going in as well.

-Rob

[v1valarob]

Originally Posted by Doug Taylor

Oh hell yes. I did a sweet visual approach to Offut AFB one day until the controller insisted I join the LOC at Omaha.

Hahaha

-Rob

[SRA_kbad]

Originally Posted by v1valarob

ATP flight school uses El Paso as a gas up point for XC's. Before we start our cross countries they give us this huge packet with all the airports and all the little things we need to know, and El Paso's had a HUGE warning about not landing at the wrong airport. Good thing I had read it. My partner was the PF and was cleared for the traffic pattern since it was blue skies and not a cloud in sight. He insisted at first the base was the airport we where going to. I assured him that the northern airport was the base, and southern was the civilian. It took about 30 seconds of convincing before he agreed with me. Besides the fact that we could see commercial airline traffic going in as well.

-Rob

Thats nothing Rob. Chris almost flew us in to Mexico. I just wanted to smack him. You know how he is

[v1valarob]

Originally Posted by SRA_kbad

Thats nothing Rob. Chris almost flew us in to Mexico. I just wanted to smack him. You know how he is

He just wanted some margaritas ::gay hand sign::

We flew into Mexico, but we where vectored into it.

-Rob

[SRA_kbad]

Originally Posted by v1valarob

He just wanted some margaritas ::gay hand sign::

We flew into Mexico, but we where vectored into it.

-Rob

sssssssSilly

[v1valarob]

Originally Posted by SRA_kbad

sssssssSilly

Funniest time ever was when we went to starbucks and he and the coffee maker person where going back and forth about their favorite type of coffee ice cream, and how the ones with whipped cream and cherry where the best.

So gay but so funny.

-Rob

[SRA_kbad]

Originally Posted by v1valarob

Funniest time ever was when we went to starbucks and he and the coffee maker person where going back and forth about their favorite type of coffee ice cream, and how the ones with whipped cream and cherry where the best.

So gay but so funny.

-Rob

[RPJ]

Originally Posted by v1valarob

ATP flight school uses El Paso as a gas up point for XC's. Before we start our cross countries they give us this huge packet with all the airports and all the little things we need to know, and El Paso's had a HUGE warning about not landing at the wrong airport. Good thing I had read it. My partner was the PF and was cleared for the traffic pattern since it was blue skies and not a cloud in sight. He insisted at first the base was the airport we where going to. I assured him that the northern airport was the base, and southern was the civilian. It took about 30 seconds of convincing before he agreed with me. Besides the fact that we could see commercial airline traffic going in as well.

-Rob

I had to do a triple check from windscreen to chart to verify landing runway 22 at El Paso. I was coming from the west and was assigned right downwind for 22. The Army airfield next door is probably used to people landing there by accident lol.

[Chief Captain]

I'd definitely tell somebody. if it's a minor mistake, it may be easier / better to just hide it, but something as obvious as landing a big jet at the wrong airport is bound to be seen by somebody, even if it is at 4am. If you confess, you may keep your job. If you wait for somebody else to tell the chief pilot, you will lose your job.

[Captain_Bob]

Originally Posted by LoadMasterC141

Is it really that easy to land at the wrong airport?

Yep...

On my Upgrade OE... while flying with a VERY senior Check Airman (No. 2 on the seniority list in CLE) we almost set up for a wonderful visual pattern to Plattsburg (PBG)... when we should have been a bit further southeast in Burlington (BTV).

My checkairman was also adamant that one guy always fly green needles (VOR nav) and have his bearing pointers up... while the other guy should have his magenta (FMS/GPS) needles up. You know... so that we could cross check each other... and not make mistakes.

It was late at night... end of a long day... VMC... we were on a heading for vectors to the visual... he called the airport "in sight" while pointing out the window. I looked out and immediately saw an airport and I agreed... "in sight". We had everything set up for the visual backed up by the ILS. But... by golly we had "the" airport "in sight" and it wasn't until we were practically midfield downwind of PBG that I realized that BTV was actually behind and to the right of us. We then started our 15 mile out "base turn to final" for BTV... right as Center called us to confirm we actually had BTV in sight and not PBG.

We just acknowledged that we had BTV in sight... but needed a bit of extra time to set up for the approach and that was the reason for the "extended downwind".

Moral... Man, I can see how easy it could've happened.

Bob

[Blackhawk]

Camp Humphreys in Korea was just south of Osan- the control zones overlap. Runways were oriented the same direction. I was there when the ILS was first commissioned at Camp Humphreys in the late 1980s. The frequency was only like .2 different from Osans localizer (one was something like 111.1, the other 111.3. The IDs were similar... especially to crews flying C-5s from the US. Only problem was that Humphreys was like 5,000', Osan was something like 15,000' (don't remember the exact numbers, but Osan is LONG).
One night while flying NVGs in the pattern at Humphreys we were turning base when a C-5 flew by us on final... not talking to tower. Yeah, they were tracking a perfect localizer... to the wrong airport. I guess they realized it at the last minute when the runway looked kind of short... and dark... and did a go around. Shocked the &^%$ out of us and the tower controller. Tower came back in a few minutes and told us what they did. I'd like to say I would never have done it... but being tired after a long flight... IDs are close... frequencies are almost the same (is that a 1 or a 3?)... runways alined... a dark night...