Full story here: http://www.wtsp.com/news/article/264803/8/Massive-military-plane-lands-at-wrong-airport-in-Tampa
In the C-17 case of mistaken airport landing: A large part of the hazard surrounding this mistake was that the wrong airport happened to be right in the middle of a large, suburban neighborhood. If this large aircraft was not lucky enough, or the pilot's were not skilled enough to land the large aircraft on such a small runway (3,500ft opposed to the necessary C-17 runway length of 7,600ft, according to http://planes.findthebest.com/q/139/7735/How-long-of-a-runway-does-the-Boeing-C-17-Globemaster-III-Jet-need-to-take-off) then it could have ended up being disastrous for many people at and around the airport. In general, wrong airport possible hazards include: collisions due to traffic, unavoidable runway run-off for some aircraft, confusion to a tower which would create more immediate mistakes, and many other possible disasters.
In order to correct issues such as this, airports should be able to make modifications as to insure that the arriving pilot's know exactly where they are. For airports that are very close to each other, towered airports could ask each arriving aircraft exactly which airport they are planning to land at. That way, there would be less risk involved in making this mistake.
As an Aviation Management Major: In the case of the Southwest 737, I believe that the pilot's were rightfully suspended until the investigation was complete. As this was viewed as an "innocent mistake" it is very important to investigate in order to make sure that the pilot's did not make the mistake due to fatigue or any other personal reason. If the pilot's are cleared for anything unforgivable by the NTSB, then I see no reason why the pilot's should not be able to continue flying as they would have been before the incident.
Recently their has been several aircraft that have landed at the wrong airport. For example, Houston ATC cleared Colgan Flight 3222 to land at Lake Charles. This flight could of landed successfully if the pilots wouldn't of relied on ATC instructions having flown the same route several times. This mistake could of been easily resolved by just checking the instrument panel and noticing that the frequency was incorrect. The flight was over a pitch black terrain and by having the incorrect frequency, they illuminated the runway 15, thinking that they were at Lake Charles, but instead landed at Southfield airport. The runways are identical, so I can understand why they made this mistake. The only problem I see with towers asking aircraft which airport they are intending to land at is congestion on the frequency, which could lead to important missed radio calls. Their is no absolute error free system and people are going to agree and disagree.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that something must be done to try to prevent these incidents from occurring. Most of the incidents that have occurred over then past several years happened when one of the pilots is hand flying the aircraft. There seems to be a break down in instrument usage to ensure they are landing at the proper runway and in some instances ATC not noticing the aircraft is heading towards the wrong airport. I agree with your stance on the Southwest suspension. Barring any wild results from the investigation I think the pilots should be allowed to keep their jobs (after some remedial training/probation).
ReplyDeleteBen, you bring up an interesting point about there being a "break down in instrument usage". Could this be similar to some of the issues that are hot topics with automation? Are pilots becoming so dependent on instrument approaches that they have lost their ability to use their dead reckoning skills to locate an airport in visual conditions?
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