Southwest Airlines flight lands at wrong airport

RBeaubien said:
Yes, but he clearly knew the runway length was short so I think he had to know where he was landing.
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The shortness of the runway might not have been that clear at night with nothing to compare it to. I'm not necessarily making excuses for them but people here seem to want to know how such a thing could happen.
 
api
 
tinerj said:
It really would be useful to know what actually caused the misque.
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Pure speculation on my part, but looking at the Flight Aware track, I'm guessing they saw airport lights and called the field in sight, controller then cleared them for the visual and told them to contact tower. They did and being a sleepy airport with no other traffic, tower controller immediately cleared them to land without looking.

Thinking the airport lights they first saw were the intended airport, they became fixated and lined up and landed.

I can see it happening. It's that complacency thing that kicks our butts.
 
Fearless Tower said:
Pure speculation on my part, but looking at the Flight Aware track, I'm guessing they saw airport lights and called the field in sight, controller then cleared them for the visual and told them to contact tower. They did and being a sleepy airport with no other traffic, tower controller immediately cleared them to land without looking.

Thinking the airport lights they first saw were the intended airport, they became fixated and lined up and landed.

I can see it happening. It's that complacency thing that kicks our butts.
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I think what you posted is going to be pretty close to what they find out. As far as the tower clearing them to land, I don't think the tower actually needs to see the airplane if there is no other traffic. I know I have been cleared to land from a long ways out (10-20 miles) in the middle of the night. I don't know what the ATC regs are about this.
 
Fearless Tower said:
Pure speculation on my part, but looking at the Flight Aware track, I'm guessing they saw airport lights and called the field in sight, controller then cleared them for the visual and told them to contact tower. They did and being a sleepy airport with no other traffic, tower controller immediately cleared them to land without looking.

Thinking the airport lights they first saw were the intended airport, they became fixated and lined up and landed.

I can see it happening. It's that complacency thing that kicks our butts.
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That is a very likely scenario.
 
Yes, it's being reported they were on a long left base on the visual that took them right over the airport on which they landed enroute to the destination airport. The tower does not have RADAR at Branson. So, once approach handed them off, it's possible tower didn't even have them in sight yet when they landed.

Best,

Dave
 
RV10flyer said:
I think I would have to just sit in the cockpit with the door closed while my passengers deplaned.
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I would get on the PA and try to convince them that they were flying with JetBlue.

Or maybe announce that we have overpowered the hijackers and managed to land at the nearest airport, and call for an orderly evacuation of the plane.

Or call for an ambulance because the pilot is having medical problems, and this was the fastest way to the ground. You can bet that if he didn't have a heart attack in the air, he sure had one after touchdown!
 
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Dave Siciliano said:
Yes, it's being reported they were on a long left base on the visual that took them right over the airport on which they landed enroute to the destination airport. The tower does not have RADAR at Branson. So, once approach handed them off, it's possible tower didn't even have them in sight yet when they landed.

Best,

Dave
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Yep, They operate like KTXK, Texarkana, AR. At most they have a computer screen with a feed from the nearest ASR site.

Its kinda hard to mistake this airport for BBG. BBG is out in the woods on top of a mountain. At night its almost a black hole approach. PLK is surrounded by new city development, plus the collage down the hill.
 
eventually all the pilots who hand fly will have landed at the wrong airport and the only ones left will be technology slaves. it's a conspiracy.
 
The bigger question right now is how are they going to get that plane out of there?
 
CNN reported what sounded like a paraphrase quote of Fearless Tower and TMetzinger.

She said something along this line: "A pilot familiar with both airports said that they didn't follow their GPS, one pilot was looking down and the other saw the first airport and thought that was their intended destination."

It could be a someone else's quote. But when I heard it just now I thought back to that post. It sounded to similar.
 
**** happens, and always will. That said if you're flying a Southwest 737 and you allow something of this magnitude to happen it's game over, even if it could have happened to anyone.

I will admit that I landed at the wrong airport at night once. Fairly long XC in a 172 with no nav equipment. Was navigating with a sectional and compass basically and I was off a bit.
 
Job interview:

HR: Tell me the difference between these two airports.

Applicant: Well one is much shorter than the other.

HR: Bingo! You're hired.
 
I would really like to know how this happened. I guess professional pilots do not preflight anymore. Considering the diagram, runway, frequencies and type are all different. The only explanation I can think of is they went 100% visual and guessed it was the right airport without any cross checks. Pay for southwest and get greyhound LOL
 
jesse said:
**** happens, and always will. That said if you're flying a Southwest 737 and you allow something of this magnitude to happen it's game over, even if it could have happened to anyone.

I will admit that I landed at the wrong airport at night once. Fairly long XC in a 172 with no nav equipment. Was navigating with a sectional and compass basically and I was off a bit.
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And you learned something I'll bet. These guys are supposed to be passed all that learning by the time they achive ATP.


You said a while back, "ask yourself if everything looks right when rolling to final", great advice for anyone.
 
Sac Arrow said:
The bigger question right now is how are they going to get that plane out of there?
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Someone who lives nearby reported that they heard "a very loud, low-flying jet pass over" at about 9:30 last night so it may already be gone.
 
jesse said:
I will admit that I landed at the wrong airport at night once. Fairly long XC in a 172 with no nav equipment. Was navigating with a sectional and compass basically and I was off a bit.
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Jesse, I have no problem buying into your situation with no nav equipment. I can easily see where you could be off a little bit. A well equiped 737 with supposedly professional pilots is a little harder to comprehend.
 
I am surprised the runway held up to the weight... They might get a new runway out of Southwest LOL
 
Sac Arrow said:
The bigger question right now is how are they going to get that plane out of there?
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I heard rumors they are bringing in a treadmill. You know get it up to takeoff speed on there and......ducking and running.

Best,

Dave
 
I hope it's not a career-ender for these guys, but have a bad feeling about this, especially since it got a LOT more press than it should have. It must have been a slow news day.

Even Jesse, whom I respect a lot, admits defeat once at night. This flight was at night also.

Brian says the pilots should be past the learning curve. If you're still breathing, you're never past the learning curve. We all (hopefully) learn something every day. But this isn't about learning. It was a silly mistake that should have never happened. I hope those guys get a helluva tongue lashing and are told to report back to work tomorrow more alert.
 
One thing this incident suggests is that Asiana pilots are not the only ones who can screw up a visual approach. Luckily, this crew had better luck in salvaging the situation.
 
The PICs at LGA and BUR who had recent incidents no longer fly for SW. The income stops, but the loans to get a rating don't.

Best,

Dave
 
Yes... I never LOSE money with southwest. I either make my trip and get decent value, or I apply the money to another flight.
 
Pretty easy take off didn't even look like he did a short field , holding breaks and full power.. Maybe I'm wrong thought couldn't tell exactly from video..
 
I wonder if they were geriatric pilots in an attempt to make the passengers feel at home?
 
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