NWA A319 Lands at Wrong Airport

[767-300ER]

Oops! Airliner Lands At Wrong Airport

Passengers Told Not To Peek

Jun 20, 2004 12:18 pm US/Central

A Northwest Airlines flight that was headed to Rapid City, S.D., landed a few miles off course at Ellsworth Air Force Base, and passengers had to wait in the plane for more than three hours while their crew was interrogated.

Passengers on Northwest Flight 1152, an Airbus A-319 from St. Paul, expected to be welcomed to Rapid City Regional Airport on Saturday, but after about five minutes they were told to close their window shades and not look out, said passenger Robert Morrell.

"He (the pilot) hemmed and he hawed and he said 'We have landed at an Air Force base a few miles from the Rapid City airport and now we are going to figure out how we're going to get from here to there,"' Morrell told the St. Paul Pioneer Press by cell phone during the delay Saturday.

Eventually, the captain and first officer were replaced by a different Northwest crew for the short hop to the right airport.

Northwest confirmed that the crew made an "unscheduled landing."

"The situation is under review and we have nothing further to add," said Northwest spokesman Kurt Ebenhoch. He would not identify the cockpit crew, or say if the pilot made an error.

Ellsworth controls all air space 40 miles around the base and clears landings at both the civilian airport and the base.

The city's airport runway is "just over the hill" from Ellsworth, and the Northwest crew had to descend through a layer of clouds, said a base spokeswoman, Lt. Christine Millette.

The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating.

 

[AMRCostUnit]

The same thing happened to a crew from our 141 squardon in the late 80's but the other way around. They landed at the civilian airport instead of the base. The A/C was IP and, based on his reputation, it couldn't have happend to a "nicer" guy.

"This will be a visual approach BACKED UP by the ILS on frequency..." in most cases will prevent these newsworthy events.

Unit

 

[Bandit60]

This is incredible for me to believe. Does this aircraft have an fms on board that can back up a visual approach. I don't fly that type of aircraft but I back up all my visual approaches with an approach if possible. This airport has plenty of approaches for them to back up.

 

[embpic]

I used to fly into Rapid City all the time and was wondering when this would happen. They are very close together and the runways have the same orientation. If you were unfamiliar with the area and were not aware of the Air Force base, someone could easily mistake one for the other. I have seen people cleared for the visual and line up for Ellsworth only to realize there mistake on short final and come around to land at RAP. Hope the FAA goes easy on those guys.

 

[enigma]

Hope the FAA goes easy on those guys.

dittos to that, but I doubt it.

enigma

 

[trip]

First SKYW misses the runway and know NWA misses the entire airport!! What next sheees??

 

[SLOTH]

It isn't the first and won't be the last time

Other airports where this sort of thing can happen are TUS, ELP. ELP is especially troublesome, since the airports are just about dead ringers for each other.

Sloth

 

[DorkProp]

Every one of us has the propensity to make this same error. I briefly lined up with a naval base near ORF once and quickly realized my error. It was obvious that I was looking at the wrong airport when I looked at the MFD. After that I have made it personal policy to always plug in the runway and approach fix for EVERY approach, no matter the weather conditions or familiarity with the area.

Every time I get the prima donna attitude, something happens that bumps my pride down a notch. I feel fortunate that I've never made a real bone-headed mistake (yet).

 

[a320drivr]

To fly an airplane with a FMS and a map on the ND this is inexcusable. Extremely poor airmanship. This is the problem I see with pilots relying on glass and believing everything it says. It will get them killed someday. I have seen the A320 join the wrong localizer, be 2 mlies off course on a vor approach, etc. BUY BOEING!!!!!

 

[mike1mc]

I'd love to hear the crew conversation when they were trying to find the gate...