Oops

Re: Wasn't there a terminal here last time?

I thought calling an airport "in sight" meant you saw it on the MFD
Got 'em on the fishfinder!


I heard an old story that back when LOU and SDF both had a runway 1/19 (both are 4nm apart, but the runway at LOU was probably only about 4,000 feet at best) that a United 727 landed on 19 at LOU instead of SDF. Supposedly they had to take all of the seats out so they could get it back out of there. I wouldn't be surprised if the story is BS but it is kinda funny.
 
Re: Wasn't there a terminal here last time?

Ouch. Sounds like the NW guys back in '04 that put it into Ellsworth instead of RAP...Popped out of the layer, saw a runway that looked somewhat right and landed...whoopsie.

I have had two CA set up for base to Ellsworth before we picked up RAP.
 
Re: Wasn't there a terminal here last time?

I have had two CA set up for base to Ellsworth before we picked up RAP.

It's really, really easy to do up there.

Like super easy.

Like for anybody that hasn't gone in there, it'd blow your mind at how easy it is.
 
Re: Wasn't there a terminal here last time?

It's really, really easy to do up there.

Like super easy.

Like for anybody that hasn't gone in there, it'd blow your mind at how easy it is.

Yep and ELP & TUS also! I think ELP is one of the worst I've seen, I mean damn near exact replica of each airport like 5 miles apart. Crazy.
 
Is it not standard practice to always set up a nav (ils or otherwise) as sops for these situations?

Not every runway is served by a localizer or straight in approach. There are of course other methods, such as creating a pseudo VOR/radial at the airport if you have an FMS or capable GPS. But when doing a visual, often times it's just "Ok, I see the field, let's go for it". I don't think that's necessarily the wrong thing to do if you're familiar (and is not against SOPs where I work if there's no straight in approaches available), but if one of you is not absolutely familiar, I think a backup of some kind is common sense.
 
You guys are ignoring the fact that they were in a Saab, that has no FMS or GPS, in actual, on a non-precision. While the DME should have clued them in, when they spotted bright lights of a runway in the proper direction, they went visual and landed.

It's really easy to do at night in a /A aircraft. I was nearly a party to such an incident with a very sharp check airman flying down in Pensacola one night.

I can totally see how this could happen. And you'll notice in the story that this is the third time it's happened there.
 
Not every runway is served by a localizer or straight in approach. There are of course other methods, such as creating a pseudo VOR/radial at the airport if you have an FMS or capable GPS. But when doing a visual, often times it's just "Ok, I see the field, let's go for it". I don't think that's necessarily the wrong thing to do if you're familiar (and is not against SOPs where I work if there's no straight in approaches available), but if one of you is not absolutely familiar, I think a backup of some kind is common sense.

True, but generally speaking, most airports served by 121 operators have some type of instument approach. Be it an ILS/LOC, VOR, NDB, or GPS. There is generally going to be some type of approach you can back up your visual approach with. I know where I work, we have to have some type of navaid tuned and identified regardless if it is IFR or VFR. It all comes down to what is the policy at your company.
 
You guys are ignoring the fact that they were in a Saab, that has no FMS or GPS, in actual, on a non-precision. While the DME should have clued them in, when they spotted bright lights of a runway in the proper direction, they went visual and landed.

It's really easy to do at night in a /A aircraft. I was nearly a party to such an incident with a very sharp check airman flying down in Pensacola one night.

I can totally see how this could happen. And you'll notice in the story that this is the third time it's happened there.

You're absolutely right about the /A, but looking back at the weather I don't think they were in actual. Lake Charles shows no cloud cover since just after 10am Monday morning.
 
I would pay to see the crews expressions upon realizing it was the wrong airport. The picture should be part of the read and sign that's sure to follow.
 
Re: Wasn't there a terminal here last time?

Yep and ELP & TUS also! I think ELP is one of the worst I've seen, I mean damn near exact replica of each airport like 5 miles apart. Crazy.

Dude ELP makes it look like one giant airport, they're that close together.
 
they broke out of imc and were in contact with the tower looking for the airport. localizers were in operation at both airports....
facing the oposite direction of flight. the airport that thaey landed at was not normally lit up at night, but the lights were turned on bright for mx purposes. this is the third time this has happened at this airport on his exact same route. hate to say it, but cjc saabs fly into a lot of airports that only have one instrument approach, or none at all. This is the first time in the company history that this has happened, which is remarkable considering we make our money flying into podunk eas airport with no tower or radar services. the crew was also on a cdo......
 
Re: Wasn't there a terminal here last time?

We had someone do this at Mesa... I forget which airport they actually landed at but it wasn't Durango, CO like they were supposed to. Well, they didn't actually land... they realized it when they were on final and went around. They tried to cover it up though and that is always worse than the crime. I think if you fessed up right away you would get away without losing your job if you landed at the wrong airport. This was also in one of the Dashes with no GPS/FMS... /A.
 
Re: Wasn't there a terminal here last time?

Yep and ELP & TUS also! I think ELP is one of the worst I've seen, I mean damn near exact replica of each airport like 5 miles apart. Crazy.

While bad, it isn't THAT bad. In each case, one airport has 1 runway, the other airport has 3 runways. In all my years around both those places, I've luckily never had any issues......knock on wood.
 
Re: Wasn't there a terminal here last time?

While bad, it isn't THAT bad. In each case, one airport has 1 runway, the other airport has 3 runways. In all my years around both those places, I've luckily never had any issues......knock on wood.

I don't know...I never had a problem with TUS, but jumpseating in frequently I saw a number of guys who initially thought Davis-Monthan was International. It's easy to do at night because it's so fricking huge and bright...same with ELP, the bigger, brighter airport naturally draws your attention.

I remember at BNA in the early 90's American (I think) landed at Smyrna (MQY), which is a fraction of the size of BNA. I'm not sure how that one happened. Eagle has supposedly landed on the wrong island in the Caribbean, too.
 
they broke out of imc and were in contact with the tower looking for the airport. localizers were in operation at both airports....
facing the oposite direction of flight. the airport that thaey landed at was not normally lit up at night, but the lights were turned on bright for mx purposes. this is the third time this has happened at this airport on his exact same route. hate to say it, but cjc saabs fly into a lot of airports that only have one instrument approach, or none at all. This is the first time in the company history that this has happened, which is remarkable considering we make our money flying into podunk eas airport with no tower or radar services. the crew was also on a cdo......

I disagree, I am not sure I have been to LCH at night when the ODALS for the Southeast runway in sulfer weren't lighting up the night sky, with that being said it is a very easy mistake to make. Sulfer is always much easier to find than LCH and, as the article mentioned, is on the same latitude, approaching from west to east....very easy to make that mistake but still shouldn't have happened.
 
Re: Wasn't there a terminal here last time?

Tampa and MacDill and Saint Petersburg...

Pretty sure everyone, major, regional, cargo, fractional and otherwise have done it. There are those that have and those who are fixin' to.
 
Re: Wasn't there a terminal here last time?

Got 'em on the fishfinder!


I heard an old story that back when LOU and SDF both had a runway 1/19 (both are 4nm apart, but the runway at LOU was probably only about 4,000 feet at best) that a United 727 landed on 19 at LOU instead of SDF. Supposedly they had to take all of the seats out so they could get it back out of there. I wouldn't be surprised if the story is BS but it is kinda funny.

Similar story, in '67 a 707 landed at KOSU instead of Port Columbus. They had to get it to get it out. Story is 100% true and there are pictures of the incident hanging in the cafe.
 
Re: Wasn't there a terminal here last time?

I remember at BNA in the early 90's American (I think) landed at Smyrna (MQY), which is a fraction of the size of BNA. I'm not sure how that one happened.

It is a lot easier then you would think. Two month ago after a very long day we were on a straight in for 31. We called what we believed to be BNA. The controller came right back and said "you are looking at MQY you can land there if you want". So I can see how it can happen.
 
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