Originally Posted by andrasz
It appears to be confirmed now that there was no emergency, it was the simple case of mixing up two similarly aligned runways and not bothering to cross-check. Happened before, one not so long ago...
It gives a good indication of the cockpit mindset that after stopping at the end of the runway and realizing their mistake, they attempted to turn a 76 around on the grass...
If they indeed attempted to turn around at the end of the runway, then that is a more serious headwork error than landing on the wrong airport.
Both are serious issues, but attempting to turn around adds the potential for serious FOD damage to engines which would have really exacerbated the total situation.
And once they turned around, what then? Would they attempt to immediately takeoff again??
Good thing they got stuck in the mud. It allowed calm oversight of a very sketchy situation.
I'm hoping that professionalism would have overridden embarrassment and panic, but with humans, you never know.
