Oops.

 

Air Force officials are trying to figure out why an Air Force C-17 Globemaster III cargo jet heading to MacDill Air Force Base instead landed at Peter O. Knight Airport this afternoon. The plane, flown by a crew from the 305th Air Mobility Wing at McGuire Air Force Basee in New Jersey, was arriving from Southwest Asia carrying 23 passengers and 19 crew when it made an "unscheduled landing," according to Sgt David Carbajal, a McGuire spokesman. There appears to have been no damage to the aircraft or the airport, said Carbajal.

 

Rest of the story: http://www2.tbo.com/...nds--ar-437276/

 

Video of the landing: https://www.youtube....h?v=l6n29Ie2f7w

WOAH! That was amazing!

Looks like he landed too soon, Peter O Knight is just before MacDil.

Woah thanks for sharing! Very interesting.

How in the WORLD would you land at the WRONG AIRPORT?! :shok:

How in the WORLD would you land at the WRONG AIRPORT?! :shok:

 

It's happened before, it will probably happen again. Ever hear of the concept of (mental) tunnel vision? Once your brain is locked in to a certain line of thinking (e.g. I have to land at this airport here) it can be very hard to bump it out of it again. Same reason pilots sometimes take off from taxiways, even though the lighting and markings are different.

How in the WORLD would you land at the WRONG AIRPORT?! :shok:

 

Just have a look at these two airports on Google Maps and that will give you a good idea why.Parallel Runways in close proximity is the reason why this happens. It looks as if he landed on Rwy 22 at Knight instead of Rwy 22 at MacDil. You can see how close these runways are from each other on Google Maps.

 

As Japascoe has said, it has happened before. I also remember someone landing a C150 at Toronto International Airport when they thought it was Brampton Airport.

How in the WORLD would you land at the WRONG AIRPORT?! :shok:

 

Isn't the first time, won't be the last. It's MUCH harder to do when using an FMC/FMS and flying a STAR ending with an ILS/VOR-DME. However, if an aircraft is being vectored, coming in on a visual approach - you see an airport which looks correct for your current position and altitude and go for it.

Just have a look at these two airports on Google Maps and that will give you a good idea why.Parallel Runways in close proximity is the reason why this happens. It looks as if he landed on Rwy 22 at Knight instead of Rwy 22 at MacDil. You can see how close these runways are from each other on Google Maps.

 

As Japascoe has said, it has happened before. I also remember someone landing a C150 at Toronto International Airport when they thought it was Brampton Airport.

 

...but how do you mistake a 3580ft runway for a 11400 ft one in clear skies? Thankfully it was a C-17, which has the capability of short field landings. It would be a much more tragic story had it been say a B-52. I think it also is just within it's minimum takeoff distance at low weight (3500ft) so they'll probably be able to get it out of there. They'll probably had to unload any cargo they had on board though!!

We would see it on a nearly daily basis when I was working in Spokane (GEG). Fairchild AFB was a few miles to the west and there were many times when unfamiliar crews would line up to land at FAFB.

...but how do you mistake a 3580ft runway for a 11400 ft one...

 

Perhaps since both runways have roughly the same ratio of width to length may have some influence? Both marked 22. Of course one would also have to have lost some situational awareness in altitude too. [3580 ft x 100 compared to 11400 x 250 (150 plus 50 shoulder on each side)]

That mental or psychological aspect is the most interesting one in those cases I guess. I would like to know when it became apparent to the pilot flying that something is wrong here. Flare? Rollout? Beech Barons in the pattern, and a C-17. I have no trouble imagining their initial wording after finding out though. ^_^

 

I recall quite some rw locations featuring warnings on not to land on taxiways or even close by airports. Seattle with the Boeing Field for example.

 

I shouldn't make jokes since I was very confident with landing at the wrong spot in the sim once or twice. I even was confident enough to make jokes about the guy drawing the charts for being so inaccurate. I'm not kidding. Needles to say that this also was a gear up landing, rendering me for a long time.

 

But doing that in the rw as a pro is a different ball game of course. Hence the note on the actual causes as they will give vital clues. We are talking about at least two guys in the cockpit losing their situational awareness and also establishing enough confidence to just continue the landing. If in doubt, abort. I guess that's what they teach, right?

You have to remember as well these pilots do assault landings to runways that are similar in size, so seeing a small runway won't be a tip off as it would be to a 747 pilot.

It happened to me once years ago,

 

Not only was I heading for the wrong runway I was at the wrong airport. I had just received my PPL and was stationed in England in the Air Force. I had done one cross country. I was flying a leg to an airport and had to get a couple of vectors, a little lost in the haze and slightly of course and a little anxious. Approaching the airport the controller said you should have airport in sight. I finally responded after several attempts to spot runway and said airport in sight. No matter what this is where I was supposed to be landing. Approached airport reported long final but the controller kept saying we don't have you in sight. I didn't understand why because I have a great visual on the airport by now. Controller stated still don't have you in sight, boy he must be blind!

 

Oops as came closer on final I realized that I was landing at an adjacent airport. Did go around and proceeded to my destination. In my mind I thought the controller having problems. I look back on it and I knew that's my airport no thoughts to this may not be right. Crazy but at the time I knew I was right!

The thing about MCF is I think if you are approaching from the north, you have to be careful about TPA so it isn't the easiest straight-in.

 

scott s.

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