Southwest Airline Plane Lands at Wrong Airport...

[Sunshine]

A Southwest Airlines flight from Chicago's Midway International Airport was scheduled to land Sunday night at Branson Airport in southwest Missouri. Instead, the Boeing 737-700 touched down at Taney County's M. Graham Clark Downtown Airport, which is about 7 miles away and has a significantly shorter runway.

The plane is expected to take off between noon and 1 p.m. ET after likely dumping fuel to lighten its weight and get enough power to take off on the short runway, Berndt told CNN.

The Taney County airport doesn't usually handle big jets. Its runway is about half the length of the Branson Airport -- 3,738 feet, to Branson's 7,140 feet.

As a result of the short runway, the pilot had to do a lot of heavy braking as soon as the jetliner touched down.

Without the firm foot on the brakes, the plane could have overshot the end of the runway, tumbled down an embankment and onto U.S. Highway 65.

Southwest Airlines plane lands at wrong Missouri airport - CNN.com

If I were a passenger, I think I would just rent a car and drive the rest of the way. According to the article, it isn't but about 7 miles to the correct place.

 

[martybegan]

A Southwest Airlines flight from Chicago's Midway International Airport was scheduled to land Sunday night at Branson Airport in southwest Missouri. Instead, the Boeing 737-700 touched down at Taney County's M. Graham Clark Downtown Airport, which is about 7 miles away and has a significantly shorter runway.

The plane is expected to take off between noon and 1 p.m. ET after likely dumping fuel to lighten its weight and get enough power to take off on the short runway, Berndt told CNN.

The Taney County airport doesn't usually handle big jets. Its runway is about half the length of the Branson Airport -- 3,738 feet, to Branson's 7,140 feet.

As a result of the short runway, the pilot had to do a lot of heavy braking as soon as the jetliner touched down.

Without the firm foot on the brakes, the plane could have overshot the end of the runway, tumbled down an embankment and onto U.S. Highway 65.

Southwest Airlines plane lands at wrong Missouri airport - CNN.com

If I were a passenger, I think I would just rent a car and drive the rest of the way. According to the article, it isn't but about 7 miles to the correct place.

Demerits to the pilot for getting the wrong airport, Kudos to the pilot for probably realizing when he landed that he didnt have room and for him slamming on the brakes.

 

[blastoff]

Be interesting to watch them fly that baby out of there. I'd recommend empty and with minimum fuel load.

 

[Sunshine]

Be interesting to watch them fly that baby out of there. I'd recommend empty and with minimum fuel load.

Well, that is why I would just get a car and drive the rest of the way. He likely has gotten out by now, I'm not sure. But I wouldn't want on it for several reasons. When a pilot makes an error like that it does not bode well.

 

[Sunshine]

After my husband died, I had a terrible irrational fear of flying. And of course, I did some consulting for pharma and had to fly a lot. Those were just horrible trips. Every single one of them. But now the kids are grown and on their own, flying doesn't bother me so much. That must have been my not wanting something to happen that would leave them with no parents at all.

 

[williepete]

"Meanwhile, the plane took off around 3 p.m. Monday, headed to Tulsa, Okla. for fueling, officials said."

"It's the second time in less than two months that a large jet has landed at the wrong airport. In November, a Boeing 747 that was supposed to deliver parts to McConnell Air Force Base in Wichita, Kan., landed 9 miles north at Col. James Jabara Airport. That plane was flown by a two-person crew and had no passengers."

Southwest Airlines grounds pilots who landed plane at wrong Missouri airport | Fox News

The two pilot forums I subscribe to are all over this. Those guys' careers are toast.

 

[Sunshine]

"Meanwhile, the plane took off around 3 p.m. Monday, headed to Tulsa, Okla. for fueling, officials said."

"It's the second time in less than two months that a large jet has landed at the wrong airport. In November, a Boeing 747 that was supposed to deliver parts to McConnell Air Force Base in Wichita, Kan., landed 9 miles north at Col. James Jabara Airport. That plane was flown by a two-person crew and had no passengers."

Southwest Airlines grounds pilots who landed plane at wrong Missouri airport | Fox News

The two pilot forums I subscribe to are all over this. Those guys' careers are toast.

[MENTION=31703]williepete[/MENTION]

I can sort of see how this happens. My brother flies his own small craft. When I fly with him, hell if I can see the runway. But, don't they do instrument landings? If so, wouldn't that keep this from happening? Maybe I have too much faith in instruments.

 

[whitehall]

Years ago you were able to listen to the radio chatter if you wanted to as a passenger and there was a lot of chatter from various sources including control towers. With all the ground direction and electronic gizmos it seems impossible to land at the wrong airport unless there was an emergency.

 

[norwegen]

Maybe he just had the wrong address.

 

[Sunshine]

I remember when the kids were little flying in a little commuter plane to Louisville. I heard the wheels go down what felt to be just inches from the runway. I mentioned it to my husband and he told me he thought it my imagination. But the next week on the same commuter line one of their planes did a belly landing in Lexington because the pilot forgot to put the landing gear down. I recall being able to see the two guys up front, one was reading the paper and they were bantering back and forth. I think they just become too casual in the situation.

 

[williepete]

Be interesting to watch them fly that baby out of there. I'd recommend empty and with minimum fuel load.

Here ya go Partner: He doesn't power up for takeoff until after the 2 minute point if you want to fast forward:

 

[williepete]

But, don't they do instrument landings? If so, wouldn't that keep this from happening? Maybe I have too much faith in instruments.

It's prudent to have an instrument approach plugged in as a back up when you're shooting a visual approach, especially after sundown. Many companies include this as a procedure versus a technique. On the pilot boards, this is being severely critiqued.

This may seem cut and dry. The critiques by my fellow pilots may be premature. The FAA will come out with a finding soon and Southwest Airline will release a statement once their lawyers scrub the text.

I'm thankful the NTSB will not be involved. I've flown out of this airport a few times. There is no overrun option. If you go off the end of the runway, you are in deep kimchee.

 

[Mr. H.]

I did that once. Only I was piloting a Cessna 150. LOL

 

[Rozman]

I wonder at what point the captain said....
Oh shit!

 

[Rozman]

Will this be blamed on...

The Republicans
The Sequester
The partial shutdown of the government
The Republicans...

I put the GOP down twice to give the Libs an excuse.

 

[Rozman]

I heard the flight crew was grounded pending an investigation....
good move.
Where was air traffic control through all of this?

 

[williepete]

I heard the flight crew was grounded pending an investigation....
good move.
Where was air traffic control through all of this?

Standard ops to ground a crew until an investigation is complete. Those two are under the microscope right now. That level of scrutiny alone should be cause for grounding.

"Air traffic controllers had cleared the jet to land at Branson and only learned of the mishap when the pilots radioed that they had landed at the wrong airport, a source familiar with the investigation told CNN. Branson is not equipped with radar, and Clark has no control tower."
Questions abound after plane lands at wrong airport - CNN.com

 

[Sunshine]

I wonder at what point the captain said....
Oh shit!

No doubt at the point he realized what he had done. And I was wondering when THAT was.

 

[Sunshine]

Be interesting to watch them fly that baby out of there. I'd recommend empty and with minimum fuel load.

Here ya go Partner: He doesn't power up for takeoff until after the 2 minute point if you want to fast forward:

Jesus, Mary, and Joseph. So a different pilot flew it out? Right?

 

[Sunshine]

I heard the flight crew was grounded pending an investigation....
good move.
Where was air traffic control through all of this?

Standard ops to ground a crew until an investigation is complete. Those two are under the microscope right now. That level of scrutiny alone should be cause for grounding.

"Air traffic controllers had cleared the jet to land at Branson and only learned of the mishap when the pilots radioed that they had landed at the wrong airport, a source familiar with the investigation told CNN. Branson is not equipped with radar, and Clark has no control tower."
Questions abound after plane lands at wrong airport - CNN.com

And that is all to the credit of their profession. I don't want to turn this thread in another direction, but I will say this: Nurses are VERY hard on one another for their 'mistakes.' I mean to the point that we have been accused of 'eating our own young.' There are two professions that simply refuse to get inept members out and that is teachers and doctors. That is why schools are cesspools and doctors whine about the cost of med mal insurance. If they would get the bad ones out theirs wouldn't be any more than mine is, and given what I do, I think it is fairly nominal.