Random runway questions

E_Dawg

Moderator
How short is the world's shortest runway?
Where can I find info on taxiway widths?
Anyone know where the shortest and / or narrowest runways in or near Socal are?


Thanks!
 
These guys land a J-3 on a trailer pulled by a car (the KIA team; there is a video)

http://www.aerosuperbatics.com/

I think the shortest narrowest airport in Socal is Flabob, not only is it quite narrow there are mountains 3 sides of the pattern (airspace blocking the fourth), the runway had extensions which were no put on straight and you can notice the S shape while on short final.
 
I think the shortest runway is actually the widest too.

Wait... err... now wonder none of the markings made sense...
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The owner of our flight school flies a Lear 45 for west coast charters, and was telling me last week that he went into this place with the plane in Texas. I forget the name of the place but the airport had the same name as another in the same state yet one airport is big and another is emensly small, more like a airport home community. Well he goes " we were on the CTAF freq and ask for which runway theyre using and the people on the ground go, "no you don't want this airport, your looking for the other one", and he says, "no this is the airport", "no its not, you've got the wrong airport". Back and forth back and forth. The point being that the airport was so small that they had never scene a lear 45 come in there. Funnny thing. Its probably more common over there than here in socal.
 
Nah! I was thinking of a taxiway!

Here's some trivia for ya, airliners land at the wrong airport a little more than the general public thinks!
 
[ QUOTE ]
Here's some trivia for ya, airliners land at the wrong airport a little more than the general public thinks!

[/ QUOTE ]

I'd like to hear a few of those stories!
 
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I'd like to hear a few of those stories!

[/ QUOTE ]

T'wastn't I!

However there's a reason why you never call the airport unless you're absolutely willing to bet your entire career that you have the correct airport in site.

I haven't seen it done at Delta, but it happened at a previous carrier and happened at other large carriers in the recent past.

More or less, some pilots see it as a "studly" thing to call the airport to get released for a visual approach.

Usually, my personal rule is when the captain calls "airport in sight", I'll make sure i cross reference DME, with any type of lateral navigation data and ask, "can you maintain it?".

Usually the answer is "no" and he'll wait until he's at least on a recievable position on the localizer before instructing me to tell ATC that the airport is in sight.

Be careful! Violations, in the airlines, are delivered in pairs.
 
[ QUOTE ]
Nah! I was thinking of a taxiway!

Here's some trivia for ya, airliners land at the wrong airport a little more than the general public thinks!

[/ QUOTE ]

I'd like to hear how the flight crew explains that to the passengers!
grin.gif
 
I think a couple years ago, a Continental 737 crew landed at and old deserted air force base, instead of the Corpus Christi airport. Wouldnt ATC see them and catch their error in time?
 
We landed at a hole of an airport on our trip to St. Louis last year.

Erick, OK.

2,000ft +/- long, 40 ft wide (our wingspan is 36') more grass/weeds on the "paved" strip than pavement. The runway diped in the center which let standing water accumulate, and of ocure only on the east side of hte centerline. No taxiways. The "ramp" had long since been overrun by weeds and had turned to gravel. The four hangars on the "field" consisted of one standalone hangar - long since turned to near ruble and a row of box hangars nearly rusted out. Oh, and we later learned that up until very recently the cross runway, a grass runway, could still be used except that the "city" had built a golf course and turned the runway into a fairway - the accepted procedure was to buzz the golfers and scare them off before landing. The only way to access the "airport" was to drive across a drainage ditch, then across a corner of a farmer's fied then across the runway over to the "hangars."

As we landed we saw one guy standing near the end of the row hangars and he came over when we landed - he ran a small "shop" his current "project" was rebuilding a Tri-Pacer. He told us we were the first aircraft to land there in over a year.

It's about as abandoned as an open airport will ever be. I've seen far more closed airports in far better shape than this place.

But it was a fun experience and it got us out of the weather.

Take a look at it here: http://www.airnav.com/airport/O13

And here: http://www.flightsite.com/OK/airport.cgi?0042
 
Just wondering since the subject was brought up, does anyone know if some carrier accidently landed a 737 at El Toro Marine Base (I think its a marine base, its shut down now though.) I coulda sworn I heard a plane landed there on accident a few years back. It's a pretty nice facility, they have the golf course open to the public and one of the holes is right next to one of the runways. The hole base is supposed to be torn down, but if anyone has seen that base, they will know its a waste to do it. It's got everything, from a pretty nice sized airport to a Ralphs.
 
My second month as captain at Skyway, I was flying from MCI to OMA and wanted to be a stud and called OMA in site about 30 miles out from the VOR.

About 15 miles out, I started wondering where the other runway was and quickly determined that I had reported Offitt AFB! Doh!

When we got back on course towards OMA, KC Center said "Oh, Ok, I was just going to mention it but I guess you figured it out!"

Talk about seeing your career flash before your eyes!
 
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Talk about seeing your career flash before your eyes!

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At least it's a good laugh now! Right?
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But is it really a killer offense? If an airline crew were to land at the wrong airport is that grounds for immediate dismissal?
 
We got stuck at the biggest hole of a town/airport I've ever seen on a trip to St. Louis a couple of years ago. We got caught in some storms, and had to land at Houston, MO (M48). The runway has since been expanded, but when we landed there, it was 1800 x 60. We landed at night, in pouring rain. The "FBO" Was a 10x10 concrete block building with a space heater, and 3 cheapo plastic lawn chairs that barely held any weight in them. We only place to eat in town, a Pizza Hut, didn't open til 4:30. Ugh. Bad memories.

On another note, Haskell, OK (2K9) is an interesting runway. 3710x30. The runway is torn pretty good. 52' trees 100 ft from the end of runway 17, 60+ ft trees 200 ft from the end of 17. Did some t/go's there. Definitely made me a centerline nazi.
 
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Here's some trivia for ya, airliners land at the wrong airport a little more than the general public thinks!

[/ QUOTE ]

I'd like to hear a few of those stories!

[/ QUOTE ]

When I was at Kelly AFB, I heard a story about a pilot landing on the taxiway. The old runway became one of the taxiways, and right after they added the new runway, a pilot landed his F-104 on the taxiway, since THAT was the runway that he remembered. One of the old guys I worked with said he was taxiing down the taxiway around that same time and it scared the crap out of him.

Also, when I was at Luke AFB, one of the F-15 instructor pilots was telling me about one of the pilots who was on final and was cleared to land. When the tower didn't see him, they asked, "Do you see one runway or two?" The pilot replied that he only could see one, and apparently buzzed Glendale Municipal rather than landing at Luke AFB.

Of course I am always skeptical when I hear such stories, as I never know how much of them are fact and how much are urban legend...
 
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Here's some trivia for ya, airliners land at the wrong airport a little more than the general public thinks!

[/ QUOTE ]

I'd like to hear a few of those stories!

[/ QUOTE ]

How about the NWA crew in 1995 that missed their destination by a whole country ? The flight was supposed to land in Frankfurt Germany, but touched down in Brussels, Belgium instead.
 
^^ the funny part about that NWA story, was there were reports from passengers that they could see on the skymap that the aircraft was not going to Frankfurt.
 
We had a wierd day yesterday in that we were about twenty minutes early on all six legs. The FA said that one passenger was complaining, "We can't be this early. Are they sure we're at the right airport?"
grin.gif
 
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