SWA lands at the wrong airport

[Sam Llorca]

http://youtu.be/Y0B4JlXfBto

Jet fuel is almost 60 cents a gallon cheaper at PLK Clark Downtown airport than at BBG Branson. Maybe just looking for a good deal on a fillup.

Cheers,

[727737Nut]

Couple pilots looking for a job now!!!  With modern jets and glass cockpits, this should never happen.   Nice landing on the short runway though!!

Rob

[FredK]

I plan to simulate this incident in my sim to arrive at either conclusion (A) an appreciation for how this mishap could easily happen or (B) an understanding of how screwed up these guys really were!

Fred K

[727737Nut]

I plan to simulate this incident in my sim to arrive at either conclusion (A) an appreciation for how this mishap could easily happen or (B) an understanding of how screwed up these guys really were!

Fred K

Report back your findings

[jackpilot]

With modern jets and glass cockpits, this should never happen.   Rob

Not sure about that one Rob,  landing at the wrong airport has and will happen again. Whatever the sophistication of the avionics, as long as decisions are made by humans, some specific circumstances play on jugment, like approaching a multi airport city at the end of the day, having the runway in plain view and intruments (glass or analog) that are indicating only slightly otherwise..... who wins? 

As pilots, we all know the rule (trust your instruments), and we also know  that on some occasions it is utterly hard to do so.
Jack

[dodiano]

Been an Airline Pilot for 10 years and this is just a good example of goofing around in an Aircraft... These guys started a visual approach and my guess is they where screwing around and not concentrating on what they should be doing.... Even when you do a Visual approach you use the radio aids... VOR, ILS, LOC.... To aid yourself and make sure you are landing on the right place.

Very sad indeed.... Lucky that they managed to brake the aircraft in such a small field... If they where just a bit faster, with some weather or heavier it might have been another Runway runaway by Southwest.

[blueskydriver]

IMHO, with technology being way more developed then it was at the time some airplanes were designed, there is no reason airline companies could not install video cameras, and have that as another aspect to use or view along with the FDR and CVR.

Take GoPro Cameras for example, which are already used to record pilots flying (for whatever reason). You can record about 4 hours of video on a micro SD card about the size of your pinky finger nail. The camera is about 2-3 inches in size and it can be plugged in for an active power source (instead of a battery) and you can also plug an adapter cable into it to get live video out from it. So, sourcing the GoPro camera video out to a black box recorder using tape, like a mini DV tape, you would have a light weight system to really see what happens (ed) in the cockpit before events occur. And, I only describe using one cam, if multi cams were used; well, there would likely be no more guessing...

Of course, I know airline companies would complain of cost and weights, pilots' would complain of privacy intrusion, the pilot unions would complain of too much oversight, and the mechanics would complain of maintanence on the system. Which, if not for those reasons, it would actually make it better for everyone involved; although, this is just my opinion.

John

[fsaviator]

You know, it's funny how people take a different view of what pilots should or shouldn't do, the level of scrutiny etc.  It is as if, pilots fall under a much higher standard of performance than say...  bus drivers, taxi drivers, ferry captains, or basically any other CDL or equivalent holder that transports people.

Bus drivers take wrong turns, taxi drivers take wrong turns, sometimes even the opposite direction on one way streets I bet.  Yet no one is screaming for their jobs, or revoking driver's licenses etc.  As a pilot, land at one wrong airport and you're condemned for life.

My point is, if everyone expects so damn much from the guy driving the "bus"...  why the hell don't they get paid more?  It is one of the most expensive and time consuming careers to train for (and a self born expense), but with the exception of the highest tenure left seat pilots, one of the lowest paid professions.  The hours suck, the schedules suck, sometimes the company in the cockpit sucks, the commute to work can also suck.  There are a lot of down sides to having an office with a great view and the chance to fly.

I just find it amusing how worked up people get.

[jackpilot]

Thx Warren

[bernard S]

simple CRM issue ... Union meeting :-)

[727737Nut]

You know, it's funny how people take a different view of what pilots should or shouldn't do, the level of scrutiny etc.  It is as if, pilots fall under a much higher standard of performance than say...  bus drivers, taxi drivers, ferry captains, or basically any other CDL or equivalent holder that transports people.

Bus drivers take wrong turns, taxi drivers take wrong turns, sometimes even the opposite direction on one way streets I bet.  Yet no one is screaming for their jobs, or revoking driver's licenses etc.  As a pilot, land at one wrong airport and you're condemned for life.

My point is, if everyone expects so damn much from the guy driving the "bus"...  why the hell don't they get paid more?  It is one of the most expensive and time consuming careers to train for (and a self born expense), but with the exception of the highest tenure left seat pilots, one of the lowest paid professions.  The hours suck, the schedules suck, sometimes the company in the cockpit sucks, the commute to work can also suck.  There are a lot of down sides to having an office with a great view and the chance to fly.

I just find it amusing how worked up people get.

Couldn't disagree more, sorry.  Your bus driver and taxi driver analogy sucks.  lol  Make a wrong turn, no big deal get back on the right road.  Land at wrong airport with to short a runway and you have a disaster.  They got luck in this case!  Aviation is NOT forgiving a mistakes for obvious reasons.  On the ground, you can stop, pull over and re-group.  In the air, not so much. 

I won't even get started on how when i was a car mechanic I was held to a MUCH higher standard than a doctor!!! I know my pay wasn't even close.

[Sam Franklin]

I think they were lucky that the airport that they landed at was so small and... empty! If it hadn't been the result could have been very different.

[Sam Llorca]

Couldn't disagree more, sorry.  Your bus driver and taxi driver analogy sucks.  lol  Make a wrong turn, no big deal get back on the right road.  Land at wrong airport with to short a runway and you have a disaster.  They got luck in this case!  Aviation is NOT forgiving a mistakes for obvious reasons.  On the ground, you can stop, pull over and re-group.  In the air, not so much. 

I won't even get started on how when i was a car mechanic I was held to a MUCH higher standard than a doctor!!! I know my pay wasn't even close.


Agree with you Rob!!!

[Garys]

We are seeing more and more occurances of aircraft landing at the wrong airports as the reliance of glass cockpit technology improves. I don't think the blame lays 100% with the pilots. I think the Honeywell's and Rockwell Collins of the world need to do a better job with the software databases to warn the pilots if the destination airport in the FMC doesn't match the aircrafts current landing profile. It's also is an airline option for RAAS which I believe should be made mandatory on all commercial and miltary aircraft as well.

However in this case I agree with Roberto -  the pilots are total retards 

Gary

[Sean]

Pfft!

If Ryanair were in the US, they would fly there!

Especially now they know that you can get a '73 in!