Colgan Lands at Wrong Airport

[SWA Bubba]

Lighten up, Francis. Who do you fly for? Bet they've done it, too. Hell, some have landed in the wrong country even.

Here's a partial list. Delta, Northwest, Continental, United, American, USAirways, TWA, Air France, and just about every regional commuter are on this list:

Thanks for the humbling list, Ty. And it clearly was only a partial list, because I would like to address this one that you mentioned:

[FONT=Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif]- May 11, 1997 - A Continental Airlines 737, bound for Corpus Christi, Texas (CRP), mistakenly lands at Cabaniss Field, an abandoned Navy airfield. Link.
[/FONT]
Actually this was at least the THIRD time a commercial airliner made this same mistake. When I was a student in Corpus in 1992, it had already happened twice in the 80s (I think I remember reading that is was Delta and Continental, but I'm not positive about that). Landing on 31 at CRP, you nearly pass right over 31 at Cabaniss 2 or 3 miles from touchdown. There's actually a note on the Jepp page for the ILS 31 at CRP to not mistake Cabaniss for the civil airport.

It's also not an abandoned Navy airfield. It's used every day for students to practice landings (normally Navy T-44s - a King Air 90). That's why there's no big orange X's on the runways that might have clued the airline guys in.

Thanks for the reality check though!

Bubba

 

[Ty Webb]

SWA Bubba:

Thanks . . . . I think that the knowledge that it could happen to us . . . . if we're not vigilent . . . is what keeps us vigilent . . . . and, therefore, safe.

:beer:

 

[IBNAV8R]

Did you read that in Plane and Pilot?? I truly hope you are not part of this profession.

I'll fly with you any day - just knowing that would NEVER happen to you.

NOT!!

 

[waveflyer]

SWA Bubba:

Thanks . . . . I think that the knowledge that it could happen to us . . . . if we're not vigilent . . . is what keeps us vigilent . . . . and, therefore, safe.

:beer:

Well said Ty.

 

[shmenter]

You are right on WEBB.

Every time I hear about an incident like this or a crash or accident, it is a great reminder. All this stuff COULD happen to me. As soon as we dismiss it ("oh those guys were dumb, how could they..." ) we start walking on thin ice. New guy or Check Airman, gotta back it up with navaids or review the emergency procedures.

Im not perfect and hopefully we all benefit from reminders.

 

[hyflyin]

Did you read that in Plane and Pilot?? I truly hope you are not part of this profession.

Nope, but I have watched many cocky fools like you do such things.

I have no doubt you will be a statistic one day. The real tragedy, you could have learned something.

Good luck

 

[hyflyin]

SWA Bubba:

Thanks . . . . I think that the knowledge that it could happen to us . . . . if we're not vigilent . . . is what keeps us vigilent . . . . and, therefore, safe.

:beer:

Well said!!!

 

[T-1GUY]

Maybe fatigue was a factor ???

 

[Golden Falcon]

When fatigue is a factor on my flt deck, radar vectors to an ILS is usually the lowest workload/safest bet.....

 

[cynic]

Maybe they suck at flying airplanes ???