NWA A319 Lands at Wrong Airport

[GVFlyer]

Typo

What's even funnier than that? Your geography knowledge! DOH!!!!

You're right, knowing that Fargo is in ND not SD is central to understanding the joke - thanks for pointing that out.

 

[GVFlyer]

Nothing is funny about a fellow pilots misfortunes.

Flying drunk is not a misfortune - it is stupidly putting the lives of your passengers at risk.

 

[jarhead]

Common folks lighten up! Yeah this was unfortunate but S++T happens, if I was on the receiveng end I would not be too happy but life goes on. That was a good joke - and the CA of that flight went on to re-apply and finish off his career back in the left seat of the 747 (or at least back at NW).

Pretty sure that pilot did not go back to the left seat of a 747. He was a DC-9 CA, and when he was re-instated at NWA after some counseling, he finished his carrer as a sim instructor at NWA, and never flew pax again. Never the less, he was fortunate that NWA took him back again.

 

[Huck]

Nope - he finished up hauling pax in the left seat of the whale. He was a friend of my dad's. NWA's CEO personally reinstated him.

The best joke from those troubling times (after Brussels and Fargo): for all international flying, NWA ops specs specify there must be at least one red book pilot on board - but he must be sober.

And I have worked for TWO airlines that have had low approaches into the small GA field south of Newburgh, NY. The last one was a DC-10, and there just happened to be a news photographer there - the shot of the flyby made the front page of the local paper.

 

[jarhead]

I stand corrected!

 

[belchfire]

Okay, the glass and the airbus and the crew
have all been made fun of/simpathized with
and whatever.

The next question is where the heck were the
hotshot military controllers and security to keep
a civi airplane off the base??? Bet it's pretty
quiet in that approach control now! Good thing
that it was a mistake instead of someone that
wanted to get that close to the B-1's!!!

 

[Skank]

Uh, monitor your raw data on the VOR and that won't happen. As to the false capture on a LOC, situational awareness will nullify that problem.

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!!!!!

 

[Ganja60Heavy]

Cost me an RC plane!

Yeah.....about 25 yrs ago I was flying a radio-control plane at an old CLOSED WWII airfield when an Eastern B-727 did a low approach, down to about 100 AGL. The runway had faded yellow XXX's and fer sure woulda eaten up the 3-holer.

The wake caused my P-51D model to self-destruct inflight, and the fully-configured go-around caused Who-concert-style hearing damage to all souls onsite. "Whisperjet" my eye!

We assumed it was a prank at the time, but was it an almost-wrong-airport?

Was a memorable day. I even wrote a letter to Frank Borman asking for a reimbursement. Still waiting for the check. Should I go after Lorenzo?

 

[canyonblue]

Flying drunk is not a misfortune - it is stupidly putting the lives of your passengers at risk.

I agree. The main point is the jokes that come out of other pilots mistakes. It's bad karma, and if you choose to join in on the pilot bashing, just don't get mad when it's you they are laughing at someday.

 

[GVFlyer]

I'm betting GVFlyer doesn't even get it!

In psychology your comment would be termed projection.