A lot of this chat here is from US guys. Please help the rest of us here. ...This was a night incident, which I expect therefore to be dark. Some have said it was a -300 or -700. Both have MAPs and IRS, VNAV & LNAV. Thus, how can the magenta line take you to the wrong place? I assume the destination was programmed correctly before departure. If this was a visual diversion from the STAR....
Sure.
First, there is not, so far as I can see, a STAR for either of these airports. Not sure how SWA SOPs would program for that situation - direct to the airport itself?
(Second, and probably made irrelevant by point one, keep in mind that U.S. STARs are not usually, as with many EU STARs, to a specific runway, but to the general vicinity of the airport, from which point in space (or before reaching it) one is dependent on ATC instructions to join an approach (which may include "Cleared for the visual...".)
Between them, the two airports have only one ILS (KBBG 32), and that was not the runway favored by the winds (150/180).
According to a witness on avherald, the plane started to enter a
visual downwind (heading ~320) for the correct runway at the correct airport, but than joined a downwind for the other airport. "Downwind" as in, how you visually land a Cessna: downwind - base - final. Only higher and faster.
Looking at the geometry of the airports, I can see where they'd end up with the wrong airport visible to the right seat at 1 o'clock, and the correct airport invisible to either pilot, behind them at about 7 o'clock.
As to why (perhaps) no RNAV approach - well, you're (so it appears) 5 hours late and have a choice of:
- a visual to an airport which
seems to be clearly visible (and with passengers enroute to evening stage shows, with the curtains going up in an hour - what Branson is famous for), or
- wandering 15 miles out into the wilderness to set up and fly an RNAV back another 15 miles.
None of the above "justifies" the mistake, of course. If one is going to be casual about skipping the automation to save some time, one better bring one's "A" game for SA and all the other pilot skills.