Landing at the wrong airport...

Blackhawk said:
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...
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I guess if you were there on one of the 5 days in SK you have more than 4 sm in Haze. I soloed out of the aero club in Osan, yet was an intel tech at the Hump a few years back, All the hours I logged out of Osan, I almost never even saw Humphreys...At night though tracking a localizer I guess I could buy it. Man now I want some Bulgogi....
 
ozziecat35 said:
I guess if you were there on one of the 5 days in SK you have more than 4 sm in Haze. I soloed out of the aero club in Osan, yet was an intel tech at the Hump a few years back, All the hours I logged out of Osan, I almost never even saw Humphreys...At night though tracking a localizer I guess I could buy it. Man now I want some Bulgogi....
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Mmmm. Bulgogi. With kimchi.
I used to fly out of the Osan Aero Club also. I took my wife (we were dating at the time), down to Cheju Do in a 172 for a weekend. I spent 2 1/2 years at "The Hump", my wife spent two years there. We spent many a date at the Katusa snack bar there when one of us had duty, and down town Anjung Ni. Ah, the Top Hat club. We used to go to Osan until the bars closed at 02:00, then have taxi races back to Anjung Ni until we stagered through the gate about 05:00 and walked across the airfield back to the BOQ. Taxi races are when you load up 2-4 taxis, throw a $5 bill on the dash, and tell the cab drivers the first one to Anjung Ni keeps the $5 as a tip. :nana2: I don't know how we didn't wind up upside down in a rice patty. Oh, and the soju tents. Now there was an experience. Sit around with a bunch of old Koreans and drink soju. Buy a pigeon, have it cut up and thrown on the grill.
 
Just to add to the discussion, ATC themselves can screw you up as well.

Have a friend that was flying LGA-ITH, getting vectored in IMC for the ILS 32 (110.3). I can't remember the nitty gritty details, but long story short, the controller started vectoring them for the BGM ILS 34 (108.7).

Seems easy to catch, right? Well, the BGM ILS 16 is also 110.3.... I believe it wasn't until they were on their final vector and cleared for the approach that they figured out why the instruments weren't showing what they expected.

(For those unfamiliar with NY, if you're flying from LGA to ITH, you pass right by BGM)
 
There was a 727 or 737 that landed at TTD instead of PDX a long while ago. I heard the pilot got fired even after he left it right there. seems like they had to strip it down some and get a pilot from Boeing to fly it over to PDX. The two are pretty much lined up with one another but about 10 or 15 miles apart.
 
I went back and found it on google. It was a United Flight from Chicago to Portland in a DC-8. Troutdale at that time was about 4,000 Feet long. They had to drain fuel and strip the plane put the tail over the fence and fly it the 8 miles to PDX Portland Int. This happened in 1968.
 
Note to self: If I ever screw up so royally that I land at the wrong airport, land at an airport with a runway long enough to get back out of...
 
Dunno! You'd have to ask one of the real locals, but I can see it happening. It's lined up with the 34's in Salt Lake, directly south of it with a northbound runway itself.
 
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Tucson International Airport has runways 11L/29R and 11R/29L, and pointing in almost the same direction next to it is Davis Monthan AFB just on the otherside of the highway, fortunately it is numbered 12/30
 
... having to unload a 737 to depart ...

If you ever fly into C02 (Lake Geneva Wisconsin)the approach end of 23 was torn up (there may have been a displaced threshold). The story was that Hef managed to talk them into landing the Bunny Jet there -- Lake Geneva used to be one of the Playboy Clubs.

Apparantly after realizing their poor judgement they had to tear out seats, maybe offload fuel and wait until a cool early morning to blast it back off.

The legend was that is why the runway surface was pocked up at one end -- from the heavy jet landing.
 
right... but DM doesn't mind when people land there by mistake :sarcasm:.

i'm sure its happened, but i've never heard about it.

Zondaracer said:
Tucson International Airport has runways 11L/29R and 11R/29L, and pointing in almost the same direction next to it is Davis Monthan AFB just on the otherside of the highway, fortunately it is numbered 12/30
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on another note: i bet heff could land at DM. hell - he could land in my backyard! just bring the ladies:D.
 
I was doing approaches and heard a Falcon 2000 from Mexico asking where customs was located. KNEW hasn't had customs on the field since Katrina. I wish I could hear the pilot tell the PAX their excuse.
 
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