>>Whilst some of these stories are funny, you don't really think there is more than a grain of truth in most of them do you?<<
Well, landing at the wrong airport sure happens more often than most of us would like to admit. Years ago Delta landed at McDill Air Force Base instead of Tampa and Frankfort instead of Lexington. Delta became an acronym for Don't Ever Land There Again.
Here's a news account of a touch and go in a 727 with pax onboard:
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Quito, Ecuador (AP) June 25, 1999
A pilot flying a commercial jet with 110 passengers
tried to land at the wrong airport in Ecuador and only
took off again after realizing the runway was too
short, authorities said Thursday.
The Boeing 727 touched town briefly Tuesday in the tiny
airport in Ambato, 75 miles south of the capital of
Quito. But the plane lifted off again immediately when
the pilot realized it was heading toward a ravine at
the end of the runway, civil aviation chief Gen.
Osvaldo Dominguez said.
The pilot then flew on to the correct destination,
Latacunga airport, 25 miles away, Dominguez said.
Latacunga airport is being used as a temporary
alternative for planes heading to Quito's Mariscal
Sucre airport, which is closed for a week for
renovations. The plane, owned by the Venezuelan airline
Avensa, was coming from the Ecuadorean port city of
Guayaquil.
"This absolutely and totally was an inexplicable human
error that should be sanctioned rigorously because
there is no explanation," Dominguez said.
The pilot was interviewed by Ecuadorean aviation
authorities for seven hours in Latacunga airport before
being allowed to fly the plane to its next stop in
Bogota, Colombia.
http://www.joeha.com/whiteboard/whiteboardnewsjun25.htm
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Here are a few more reports of these "urban legends":
http://www.newstribune.com/stories/0...0315010075.asp
http://archives.californiaaviation.o.../msg12024.html
http://www.airdisaster.com/news/0702/31/news3.shtml
http://cabaniss.home.texas.net/genea...d_landing.html
http://www.lubbockonline.com/news/032997/razorbac.htm
http://lubbockonline.com/news/100596/plane.htm