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Now and again, we hear of aircraft landing at the wrong airport. Although rare,
when this does happen, there's usually no harm done, save for a bit of a delay for
the passengers onboard. But, when it's something as large as a Dreamlifter,
and it's just landed at a General Aviation airport, the consequences
are somewhat more severe… let’s take a look back at this old incident in today’s video…
For residents near a small Kansas airport in November 2013,
a Dreamlifter got a bit too close for comfort.
The huge aircraft was flying from New York JFK to McConnell Air Force Base near Wichita,
Kansas. Operated by Atlas Air, the Dreamlifter made the short journey to
McConnell but ended up touching down around eight nautical miles away at Colonel James
Jabara Airport - a small public airfield, most frequently used by general aviation.
Indeed, it is certainly not accustomed to welcoming in something as large
as a Dreamlifter. Naturally, this impromptu touchdown was quite a shock!
ATC communications at the time of the mistake had confirmed that the Dreamlifter was on an
R-Nav (GPS) approach to runway one-niner left at McConnell. After being cleared to land,
the tower advised the crew to expect a turnoff at Taxiway Delta. The response from the pilots was
"Giant 14...4241 we might, we'll have to get back to you momentarily, we're not on your approach."
To that, the controller responded "Giant 4241 Heavy, McConnell is nine miles south of you."
The then penny dropped for the bemused pilots, who, realizing their mistake,
reported back that they had quote "just landed at the other airport."
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And now, back to the video,
For a while, the pilots thought they were at nearby Wichita Beech Field.
It took several minutes of checks and a conversation with someone on the ground
before they realized the extent of their mistake.
Jabara's runway is just over 6,000 feet long, around half the length of McConnell's 19L. As
such, its concrete construction is not designed to take the weight of an aircraft as large as
a modified 747. Therefore the facility had to close for several hours to inspect for damage.
Additionally, the optimal runway length for a 747 to take off is around 9,199 feet. However,
after many technical calculations were made,
the Dreamlifter managed to take off and reposition to McConnell without incident.
So how did this happen? Well, Atlas Air said that some intermittent issues with the first
officer's flight display during the flight made the pilots question the reliability of
the automation system. Believing that the equipment was making an error,
he disconnected the autopilot to make an instrument approach.
On the pilots' side, the main error was that the pair had not undertaken a briefing about
other airports in the area, or regarding the 19L approach lighting system which
would have helped them check they were landing in the right place.
According to the pilots, at the time of the initial approach, the pilot in charge saw a
brightly lit runway to the left, which he thought matched the one he was aiming for.
However, it's not only the pilots who were found to be at fault, as Air Traffic
Control should have noticed the deviation, and subsequently alerted the pilots to the error.
In a bid to prevent the same situation from happening again,
Atlas Air has implemented a rule that pilots must stay on an instrument approach,
even in good visibility, until they have passed the final approach fix.
What’s your reaction to this incident? Let us know by leaving a comment!