Approach to worng airport

[152captain]

From Just Planes news (http://www.justplanes.com/News555.html)

Air Canada (Sep05, 2003)
Flight AC183, an Airbus A319 bound for Kelowna apparently made its approach to the wrong airport shortly before 1900 on 23Aug03. The Airbus was on final approach to Vernon Airport in BC with a small Cessna on final approach at the opposite side of the same runway. The cessna interrupted its approach and veered out of the way when it noticed the Airbus ; the A319, apparently lost over the mountains of British Columbia, was able to go around. Had the aircraft continued to land it would have resulted in serious problems as the strip is too short for this kind of jet with only 3300 feet of the 3800 needed.

[411A]

Why are we not surprised?

Hey, if NorthWest could mistake BRU for FRA....anything can happen.

Opps, can hear it now....the AirBoos made me do it.:{ :{

[India Four Two]

Here's a more extensive report on the same incident - CBC News (http://vancouver.cbc.ca/regional/servlet/View?filename=bc_airport20030904)

Vernon is about 18 nm north of Kelowna, slightly east of the extended centre line of Kelowna's runway 15. Swan Lake, referred to by the instructor in the CBC report, is about 5 nm northeast of Vernon airport. Vernon's runway is 23/05. The Airbus appears to have been making an approach to 23.

[WASALOADIE]

Reminds me of the Dan Air aircraft in the 80,s that landed at Langford Lodge instead of Belfast Aldergrove, Northern Ireland

[hobie]

a question .... what were ATC doing at the time? ....

cheers .... hobie ....

[NigelOnDraft]

<<what were ATC doing at the time? ....>>
Probably controlling the:
<<A constant stream of five CL 415 water bombers and a Martin Mars bomber battled the stubborn fire all day Friday>>
fighting the fires which have already consumed some 250 homes in Kelowna, and caused extensive evacuations in the area

See http://www.castanet.net

NoD

[scanscanscan]

1. AC Vangaurd got down to 200 feet on final to Oaksfield Airport before a GA when it wanted Nassau International in 1965ish.
2. BA landed straight in Easterly at Shj when they wanted Dxb on a first command trip.
3. GF landed straight in Easterly at a military airport when it wanted Khi International.
4. Dan Air Chief Pilot did exactly the same landing error also at Khi 1974/5ish.

IMHO..This error seems to be the eventual fate of the "Keen company pilots" who SOP throw their instrument approach and guidence overboard and decide to call "Field in sight, accept visual"etc. to attempt to save time and fuel.
Interestingly all the above "Pilots" were operating for the first time in these areas, a reason you may think to stick with an approach procedure or at least positively ident the correct airport via a visual circuit.

[akerosid]

I appreciate what you say, Scanscanscan, but all of these aircraft were non-glass cockpit. What I'm curious about it, how do you fly a glass cockpit airliner - with all the navigation displays it has - onto an approach to the wrong airport, let alone an aircraft which can't accommodate it? (I had understood that the cockpit ARPT display would only show those capable of accommodating the aircraft in question?)

Surely if the flight plan had been loaded, an error such as this would have been impossible?

Don't want to be hard on AC, which I know is a fine airline, but I'd just like to understand how this could happen on an Airbus?

[Huck]

Two of the three airlines I have worked for have had crews mistake a small GA airport for Stewart AFB in Newburgh, NY, USA. Both resulted in low approaches only, but in one of them (a DC10) some wag snapped a picture, resulting in a front page story in the local paper....

(The other a/c was a CRJ, by the way, with the FMS supposedly still showing 6 miles to destination!)

[RatherBeFlying]

Kelowna and Vernon are both in a mountain valley.

Once below the mountains, I doubt there's any radar coverage -- think Innsbruck.

Don't believe AC carries VFR charts either and perhaps Kelowna a/p would be obscured by smoke because of the forest fires which have already burned over 200 houses.

TC NOTAMS

030137 CYLW KELOWNA
CYLW ALL INSTRUMENT APCH PROCEDURES AND IFR DEP RWY 15
NOT AUTH DUE FOREST FIRES SR/SS DAILY
TIL 0309142359

030143 CYLW KELOWNA
CYLW PURSUANT TO CAR 601.14 TO 601.16 FOREST FIRE AREA BOUNDED BY
4939N 11943W. 4945N 11943W. 4957N 11930W. 4950N 11910W. 4939N 11910W
TO POINT OF ORIGIN (CENTERED APRX 12 NM S AIRPORT). MAX ALT 8000 FT
MSL. FIRE CONTROL OPS IN PROGRESS. EXCEPT WHERE OPR UNDER CAR 601.17.
ALL ACFT REMAIN CLEAR. SR/SS DAILY
TIL 0309142359

[ATC Watcher]

Hobie :
quote :
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
a question .... what were ATC doing at the time? ....

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
With no radar not much he could do . Plus the Bus would have most probably been on the Kelovna TWR Frequency, accepted or requested a visual APP, and if TWR had no-one on the runway and the bus guy told them "we have the runway in sight"the Controller would have replied "clear to land ". we do not need to actually see the aircrfat to issue the landing clearance .

But I guess the fires had a lot to do with the error, which, as I understand was corrected in time . . So let,s be kind to our coleagues
;)

411 : The NWA DC10 bound for FRA was all the time on the correct Brussels frequency , they just called them "Frankfurt"all the time and they landed all right:E

[scanscanscan]

Akerosid...Having flown Glass 767/757 for 10years
and Dc3, HS 748,F27 and (L1011 for 14years) I can appreciate the information overload that pilots can experiance in unusual
Non normals!
Landings into areas of reduced visability close to large forest fires must be one!
It is difficult to plan ahead and stick to any plan if things are changeing fast and you become distracted by events outside or inside the cockpit.
I found it helped to only "Priority list" the relevent information I needed to the circumstances.
I tryed to stick to IFR flying and SOPS and avoid offers that I thought could rapidly overload me and my Fo or could rapidly deteriorate, into a "Visit to the office situation."
In fact it became such a habit that I often ran my off duty days when nackered on a Priorities list.
With Boeing glass there is a large amount of information flooding in and the Airbus has more.
Consider this, in a planned Vnav descent in an Airbus, GF072 got high and fast, with all the information available, how could this happen?
DME was available, so was all the glass, the weather was good, everything was working normally, and the pilots were at a familiar home base.
IMHO..What was initially wrong was the pilots were not trained to be up to speed on their Priorities for safe flight and were involved in non essentials, they took their eye off the descent planning and subsequent profile errors were not responded to positively with sufficient urgency. Once priorities slipped other factors caused the whole thing to unravel as the report shows.
I found the more modern the airliner.... It needed to be flown with even more disciplin than the old.
The poor old pilot now needed to be hard wired and interface himself not only with his computers, BUT additionally he also needed to still be interfaced through his backside to the basics of old fashioned airmanship and the real outside world which would kill him when the outside support groups failed to accommodate the precision of his super modern programmed computers.
For example the descent profile and track was amended by ATC,
Or the approach was changed at the last minute to a different runway with only non precision aids available.
Various options suddenly being offered on approaches to different runways at the last minute after a 10hours night duty with a two man crew.
When this occured you might as well be back flying the DC3 although moveing a lot faster.
It then all came back to servival flying and priorities to stay alive and out of the office.
I hope this helps,it is very difficult to put young heads on old shoulders and vv.
As you can imagine I also thought the flight engineers made for a safer flight in non normal situations in strange areas of the world.
Cheers Scan

[seacue]

I'm SLF.

My seat mates from SJU to IAD some years ago lived in Puerto Rico. He flew his own light twin, but not on long flights such as to IAD.

He had a story of a chartered UAL B757 bring cruise ship passengers which landed at Isla Grande SIG/TISG instead of at SJU. The runways are nearly in the same heading. 90 for SIG, 80 and 100 for SJU. SIG is 6 miles before SJU on the normal approach. But the SIG runway is 5100 ft long, not 10,000 ft.

The plane landed OK, but couldn't take off for the short hop to SJU being full of pax and cruise luggage.

And no stairs at SIG were tall enough to reach a B757. It was rush hour and took a long time to drive stairs over from SJU to offload the pax.

Talk about a pilot having a bad day.

Once light, the 757 could fly out.

[hobie]

NOD and ATC watcher .... now understand a bit more of the background ....

cheers guys ....

hobie ....

[Frankfurt_Cowboy]

Happens all the time with Ryanair flights doesn't it? A/C lands at little strip in the middle of nowhere, miles from final destination...

[Firestorm]

Check the ident, check the frequency, check the beam bar, if in doubt go around. Don't know the whole story, so don't want to be too pompous. Those guys must have pretty red faces. Hope I never do it!

[planecrazi]

Someone asked earlier about getting it wrong in an Airbus, possibly high and fast.

I have noticed with experience on the A340 that certain arrivals (STAR) in Europe include a hold when entered into the MCDU. This extra distance is taken into account for the decent, thereby the aircraft is closer to the destination as the crow flies and the distance to be flown is longer. This is normal, however when one doesn't have to fly the actual hold whilst in decent and it is removed from the MCDU, you are 15-16 miles closer. A new decent profile is calculated, you are high and the FMGS could ask for "Extend Speed Brake". This does not guarentee anything, and relying on it and plus a steep profile, I think things could go pear shaped for some crew.

There are many reasons in an Airbus which cause pressure on the pilots and I'm yet to learn all of them.

I remember some saying, a new Airbus pilot asks "What's it doing now?" and the experienced Airbus pilots says "There it does it again!"

This case in Canada looks interesting and I will be reading more right here!

;)

[Luv 744s]

Despite the red faces after the A319 went around, I'd have to say well done for having managed to catch it prior to touchdown!

I'm understanding of the types of workload that can occur, especially in a stressful situation such as forest fires in the area, restricted airspace, dealing with an approach and landing, etc.

And know history behind other similar goofs in the past where there were two airports spaced nearby and on the same (or close) runway headings.

Still.. in this case... dest airport was rwy 15, nearly landed on rwy 23. Wouldn't have been off by about 80 degrees be a major hint to either crew member? Especially since the report had it down to about 700m and on centerline with gear extended, which makes it sound like it was well established on final.

At any rate, if the TSB report is made public, may be interesting to hear more into the insight into how this developed and perhaps what made the crew finally re-establish situational awareness and climb out.

I only wonder if the CFI of the light plane on the other end had to have any dry cleaning done after observing nothing less than an Airbus 319 established for final on the other end of the runway! :D

(post edited to change mention of T/D to touchdown since I later realized that T/D could have had been ambiguously read as top-of-descent, however unlikely...)

[LatviaCalling]

In my old reportorial days when I worked for UPI in Washington -- we're talking the 1960s -- we used to have time-to-time incidents when aircraft bound for Washington National, now Reagan, used to get mixed up and land at Bolling Field, a naval airbase close by. Hell of a public relations disaster.
:(

[tonybliar]

I find it hard to believe that so many of the previous comments show such sympathy for an error of 18nm at the final destination - it makes all the bombs dropped in recent conflicts appear very accurate indeed.

Really, you civilian aviation types need to tighten up on accuracy!

[Skylion]

Peter Davis fine book "East African,- The Story of an Airline" relates that in the 1950s a BOAC Constellation on the way into Nairobi Eastleigh ( now a military airfield), r/w 07 landed in error at Nairobi West, now Wilson rw 06. Optimistically it taxied back to the other end of the r/w to re-depart before concluding that was unwise with any kind of a load.

[seacue]

LatviaCalling:
==============
In my old reportorial days when I worked for UPI in Washington -- we're talking the 1960s -- we used to have time-to-time incidents when aircraft bound for Washington National, now Reagan, used to get mixed up and land at Bolling Field, a naval airbase close by. Hell of a public relations disaster.
==============
A few comments:
1) The majority of people I know in the DC area still call DCA "National". The press calls it "Reagan National". The actual name is Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. The US Congress changed the name without agreement from local politicians (who probably wouldn't have agreed). The Metro (underground) avoided changing the name of their station at the airport for about five years.
2) Bolling was the Air Force base, now converted to military housing.
3) The Anacostia Naval Air Station is still active to the extent that the Presidential helicopters are stationed there. No fixed wing aircraft, however. It has been a flying field for over 80 years.

A P-38 with South American pilot, attempting to land at Bolling, ate the tail off an airliner landing at DCA just after WW2. IIRC he was approaching DCA by mistake.

[Gaza]

Did a BA 747 not make a similar mistake on approach to CWL a few years back? The crew mistook the nearby RAF airfield for CWL.

[WRC]

This kind of thing has certainly happened before. I guess the only positive thing you can say is that at least they didn't land.

In Canada, its happened twice before. BOAC landed at Downsview instead of Pearson (both have rwy 24s and an American carrier, NorthEast I think (could have been Mohawk) landed at Cartierville instead of Dorval (both had rwy 28s).

Then there's that guy who landed his 737 for Western at the wrong field. The town had a holiday for him, somewhere in Nebraska.

So, not good but coulda been worse.

[reverserunlocked]

Gaza - yes they did, in a 747 going for maintenance that nearly went into St Athan RAF base by mistake. I believe that they were on a tight visual circuit, became disorientated and established for St Athan before the controller alerted them and they went round for another go into Cardiff.

And once upon a time a Spanish MD-80 did actually land at St Athan I believe, as it wasn't marked on their charts!

[Huck]

Planecrazi:

I have noticed with experience on the A340 that certain arrivals (STAR) in Europe include a hold when entered into the MCDU

On the MD11 I always entered the runway into the "fix" page during approach, then kept that page up for a quick distance to touchdown. (Ask me why!!!! had to do a 360 into Varicopas once....)

[finfly1]

I believe that one (and maybe more) civilian airliner has been met by air police at McDill AFB, a few miles south of their intended destination of Tampa, Fla.

[Ignition Override]

The NWA DC-10 Captain realized that something was wrong when he was cleared to land at Brussels. An Irish or British Air Traffic Controller was fired, after the investigation revealed that he (also) had not complied with a procedure which helped to begin a chain of errors, and at least some of the controllers "down the road" assumed that the DC-10's destination was Brussels ( a very overworked [Pens.] approach controller mistakenly put us on final to the wrong Florida airport a few years ago-Hurlburt AFB. We were looking straight down the runway in lousy visibility, just a few miles away. The parking ramp layout just did not look right, even in the haze, because we had been into Eglin AFB a number of times. There is no VOR anywhere near the Eglin AFB, and we were deviating around small weather build-ups...just a typically very busy two-pilot cockpit). The DC-10 Captain at BRU had reportedly enjoyed a pretty much splendid career until that incident.

He was so humiliated by the mistake, with totally shattered pride, that he chose to retire early-but he was not forced into it. On the other hand, the FO was forced to leave, having allowed some 'mess-ups' to happen over the years. The FE was suspended for a while and somehow was diagnosed soon afterward with cancer-might have passed away. I wonder if the huge embarassment can damage one's immune system? Our systems are not only physical.

Each time a crew goes east to Europe is pretty much like flying a long red-eye, which can be very tiring from the West Coast if you only had an hour's sleep. As a technique, if you are near a noisy coke or ice machine, then just unplug the things.

Luckily, many of Pprune's contributors are too perfect to come close to making such a mistake...:hmm:

[planecrazi]

Hello Huck,
That's what we do and always keep an eye on, Progress Page FIX to touch down and apply good old maths which works well too. Can't be to sure of everything you read these days from little boxes.

Now all we have to do is keep an eye on the correct airfield;)

[newswatcher]

Not quite as bad as the Saudia 747 incident at Tambaram in 1997, when it should have landed at Chennai.

[Gillegan]

Seems to me that if we are going to learn from others mistakes that we need to silence that little voice in our heads that says, "That could never happen to me." I'm sure that every pilot that has made some embarassing and very public error has told themselves the very same thing at one time or another.

It's just my opinion, but I think that it is healthier to put yourself in the other guys shoes and try to understand the events and actions that led up to the error than to simply brush it off with the thought that "I'm just too good an operator to let that happen to me."

Let the fun begin,
Ready, Fire, Aim

[safetypee]

Just returned from NW US. Whilst in Missoula – Montana, which was surrounded by forest-fires, the sky was completely obscured. Downwind of the fires there was a heavy soot fall, enough for a thin layer to form over a car in 15 min, vis approx 1nm. Any hazard to operations from soot / charred wood particles? Aircraft /engine manufactures for comment?
During my return flight over the area, well above the smoke layer (estimated at FL100) the full extent of the smoke area could be seen, - a far as could be seen across Glacier Nat Park, US and into Canada.

[BAB2B]

Wasn't there a 707 or DC8 which landed at RAF Northolt instead of Heathrow or is that just an urban myth here in Middlesex? The story went along the lines of it not being able to get out until fully stripped of all seats and furnishings.

???

[ex-EGLL]

If memory serves correctly, that was a Pan Am 707 on approach to 23 at LL. As a result, the first and only(?) aprroach sign was painted on the gasometer at Southall pointing towards Heathrow

ex-egll

[newswatcher]

BAB2B,

Courtesy - http://www.landair.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/c32a.htm "On 25th October 1960, Boeing 707 N725PA (msn 17603 named 'Clipper Aurora') of Pan American World Airways mistook Northolt for Heathrow's runway 23 and landed, stopping with very little of the runway remaining. Piloted by Capt Warren Beall, the flight had originated in Istambul via Frankfurt. The 41 passengers disembarked and were coached to Heathrow whilst the aircraft was flown out shortly afterwards. A similar event almost happened three years later to a Lufthansa example. Details of this event can be read on this site - http://www.landair.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/dmail.html"

See also http://www.rafnortholt.com/northolt/History/history-part7pg3.htm

[Floppy Link]

ex-EGLL, was it an arrow on the top of the gasometer?

don't gasometers twist as they fill and empty with gas, thus turning the top?
Just my luck it would be pointing at Northolt!

[M609]

A colleauge of mine once worked as an assitant in the tower at Kristiansand/ENCN, and some years ago a spanish MD80 on a visual app in not perfect conditions allmost landed on a car test track. (not disued airfield btw) The MD 80 supposedly initiated missed when the aircraft was below the surrounding pine trees.
The test track owner got a special experience! :E

(ENCN was non radar at the time)

[Davaar]

I recall reading somewhere about a German aircraft operating over the UK in WW2. Mission complete. Time to go home. Head South. Ja!, There's the Channel. Not long now. Ja! There's France.
Ja! There's the base, right on ETA, a bit early, even. Join circuit, downwind, finals, touch-down, taxi, dispersal, shut down. Now for a beer.

What is this truck driving up? Why are all the guys wearing funny uniforms? Why are they talking English? You mean .... that was the BRISTOL Channel?

[Jordan D]

That Saudia one ... was it where it landed at a nearby Indian Air Force Base, and they had to get the Boeing guys in to strip it, and then fly it out?

Jordan

[BAB2B]

Thanks Newswatcher, interesting reading, glad I didn't dream it (although it looks like the a/c departed OK without the strip out).

[ex-EGLL]

Floppy Link:

The Southall Gas Tank, is (was?) one of the older type that stayed at the same height and orientation (I think:confused: )

ex-egll

[alphaqup]

I once flew into Ft. Frances airport in Ontario, Can. Across the river from International Falls, USA.
Anyhew, upon my rollout I turned off the taxiway to find roaring to a halt behind me was a Gulfstream IV. He proceeded to rumble past, turn at the eastern end of the field and take off in the opposite direction, all without a single radio call.
Seems he had wandered over into the Canadian side and landed at the wrong airport and hastily made his escape.

[Firestorm]

The approach to 28/10 at Dublin has a caution note to warn pilots not to line up on the motorway which is parallel and to the South of the runway!

[planecrazi]

I had just landed in Bukavu, Lake Kivu, DRC ( Congo) about 8 years back when a B737 from Air Zaire had also just landed and was taking up the frequency looking for the second B737 from the same company. As it turns out they were both on the ground except they couldn't see one another, and I could only see one. This was because the other landed a few miles a way at Kamembe in Rwanda by mistake. He landed on a short, high runway in the wrong country in the height of the Kabila war. Not to mention, different runway heading, layout, elevation and of course runway length.
That B737 sat for years on the runway and I believe it was full of fish and arms for the troops.
I don't remember what ever happened to the crew and I do believe the aircraft was returned to Congo, via Goma just 40nm north, for fuel, after recent years. I heard the aircraft was stripped, minimul fuel for 40 miles and it just got airborne.

I'm sure the SAFAIR Herc pilots are aware of this story and could put facts to the story as they were operating from Kamembe during the same time. Somewhere 1995-1996.:O

[M609]

One more:

A Swedish AF Viggen fighter inbound a wartime base in the middle of nowhere, intending to land on the base main 2000m runway. He somehow manage to land on one of the sattelite runways, which is 800m of open highway.

After a happy landing (not one car in sight), he realize his mistake and turn the fighter arround and promtly takes off again.
One problem: Just as he rotates a Saab 900 driven by the local doctor comes trough a the bend at the end, and enters the "runway" in the oposite direction. It is unclear how many feet there was between the 2 Saab products.

Priceless! :ok:

[Niaga Dessip]

I understand that at RAF Coltishall, after several incidents over the years, there is a club tie available to visiting pilots who have mistaken Norwich for Coltishall.

ND:O

[ZFT]

Flopy Link,

If I recall correctly, the Harrow gasometer had NO painted on it with the Southall one identified LH.

[Bumblebee]

Only just 2 weeks ago, or so, I was inbound Frankfurt from LGW....filed at a lower level than usual. Handed over by Maastricht to Brussels, and when checking in received the reply:

"Hello Speedbird 2714.....Bruno Kerky Runway 25...."

me: "err...say again?"

Brussels: "Bruno Kerky Rw25.."

me: "err..umm..we're inbound Frankfurt...."

cue embarrassed silence...long pause..

Brussels: "Speedbird 2714, direct SPI, contact blah blah . blah...."

:ooh:

Goes to show it could still happen.......If you've been up all night crossing the pond, a bit tired and you hear the words "Rw25" - which is what you'd be expecting to hear.....and you're not familiar with the routings into either Frankfurt or Brussels....:}

[Dave Gittins]

It doesn't only happen to the big boys. When I was training for my PPL at Cambridge one day about 5 years ago and doing circuits, somebody called as being ahead of me and on final. I couldn't see him from base leg and still couldn't see him when I turned final .... although believe me I was looking very hard by this time.

I asked the tower where the previous was and she said she was uncertain and didn't have him in sight so I elected to go round.

She asked again where he was and he said on the ground, runway vacated and would like taxi instrcutions for parking.

She said WHERE on the ground as she couldn't see him.

In front of the museum he said.

Resounding crash of pennies dropping and she said .. in that case I suggest you call DUXFORD on 122.075 for your taxi instructions.

:oh:

[interestedparty]

A few years ago I recall a French charter jet landed at Aqaba, Jordan, rather than Eilat, Israel. The French presumably have a word for it!

[chiglet]

IO, sorry late arrival to post...hols:D
Bin in ATC for 34 years and don't recall an ATCO [Irish or Brit] being "binned" for [nearly] landing in Belgium rather than Germany...[lack of] pilot input?:confused:
On the other hand..I remember an Air France overshooting Woodford [four miles SE MAN] not once, but 3 times:ok:
we aim to please, it keeps the cleaners happy

[Davaar]

Just came across the reference to that German aircraft I mentioned on 8 September. 23 June 1942, a German pilot, disoriented after a battle with Spitfires over the Channel, landed at Pembrey in South Wales.

The aircraft was undamaged. It was taken to Farnborough and there tested against the Spitfire IX.

What was it?

An FW 190.

Ooooops.

[chippy63]

Interested party:
Yes, and that word is "Merde!"
Cheers:ok:

[spudskier]

In 1967, the crew of a TWA 707 mistook the Ohio State University Airport (5004' rwy 9R - 27L Class D) for Port Columbus International Airport (10250' rwy 10R - 28L). After shuttling all passengers and baggage to Port Columbus, and removing all galley equipment and seats, the plane was light enough to depart for the larger facility across town. (KCMH - Class C)

They are just about 10 miles apart (maybe less... KOSU sits on outer airspace ring if KCMH) and have almost the same direction for rwys.. just lenght is a little different. Almost in line with each other too... KOSU is a little bit north of KCMH's final