Bally......derry doh!

[pma 32dd]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/4857962.stm

[diginagain]

1. Don't land at the airport nearest the published destination.

[Navaleye]

Ah that's the airfield that has a railway running across the main runway.

[Talk Wrench]

It is not yet clear how the plane will be removed from the Army base.


erm, maybe flying it out might work. :8

Talk Wrench

[mlc]

Channel 4 just described it as a 'village airfield' !!

[Duncan D'Sorderlee]

A job available at Ryanair perhaps?

I am aware of a few people who have mistaken the large airfield with US tankers for the large airfield with UK tankers; but I don't think that any of them actually landed!

Duncs

[DaveyBoy]

Hopefully No 1 AIDU will have a new commercial subscriber to its ERS series as a result. Then its poor pilots might spot this note in the BINA before doing it again:
2. Ballykelly A/D 5nm ENE. Ballykelly approach lights may be observed from the final approach to Rwy 26. There have been numerous occasions of acft landing at the wrong A/D.
:)

[hobie]

A job available at Ryanair perhaps

I didn't think the crew were Ryanair? .... :confused:

[cazatou]

Navaleye

No!!

That's the only Airfield in the UK where a sheep has been killed on the main runway by a train!!

Trains had priority except over aircraft in emergency. All ATC Controllers had to complete a BR signallers course.

[g126]

Well that’s one way of avoiding landing charges, I knew they were lo-cost but that’s a bit extreme.

Heard a story a couple of years ago of a light aircraft on visual approach to Nottingham Tollerton. The controller couldn't see the a/c but the pilot was adamant he had a visual. "I can definitely see the runway, I've just landed on it" claimed the pilot who was then rather bemused by a number of VGS guys demanding to know why he had landed on their airfield (Syerston). Poor chap.

[The Helpful Stacker]

Ahhh Ballykelly, my first ever det when on 'the wing' (thumps chest with clenched right fist).

We used to have to go over to the ATC tower in our knackered old LR to turn on the runway lights if anything non-rotary was coming in at night.

Last time I was there the train line had been fenced off so no more of this (http://www.newble.co.uk/ire/runway.jpg).

[acw350]

Well after todays incident i may have more chance of getting a job as another 2 pilots get the chop. Heres hoping.

Brings back memories of our squadrons detachment there quite a few years ago from when we were based at Belfast City airport, we flew up there and completed a couple of succesful courses for our students. Many a time while wizzing around the circuit we would get a call over the radio and request our circuit height be lowered due to inbound on the ils at derry. I also remember the controller maxing out and just announced on the radio "everyone stop right there" while he had his busy bit of the day i think one inbound and one out!!!!!!!!!

Fantastic airfield with our 2 aircraft, the parachuting club and the odd visiting heli from aldergrove. It is a good airfield to operate from. Except when the local battalion are been ordered on their weekly run!!!

"wornick nick wornicknick" soz private joke!!

[sausagefingers]

good luck in getting your job. Let's hope you don't mess up one day and loose your job

[Zoom]

What's the name of the airfield 4 or 5 miles south-west of Aldergrove (Belfast International) with a similarly-aligned runway that has had the odd accidental approach and even a wrong landing or 2? Certainly nearly did it myself during my PPL course.

[wg13_dummy]

What's the name of the airfield 4 or 5 miles south-west of Aldergrove (Belfast International) with a similarly-aligned runway that has had the odd accidental approach and even a wrong landing or 2? Certainly nearly did it myself during my PPL course.

SW is Langford Lodge (M-Bs test field) and to the SE is Nutts Corner. Have approached to Langford a couple of times in error in crappers wx. Difference was, I could stop, spot turn and wobble off to ald. ;)

[ACW599]

Hasn't there been at least one case of a Cardiff inbound landing at St Athan, or at least making an approach there?

[trilander]

Well chaps I seem to remember that a Shackle bomber did the very same many years ago and Dan Dare Airways also in the 80s ( a 748 ) so they must be used to it by now

[MarkD]

doesn't the railway pass the end of Eglinton too? Someone should move the damn thing :D

Though if translink get their way it'll be closed - no more problem :hmm:

[olddog]

Story goes that in days of yore, when Ballykelly was a major Shackleton base, A Shackleton crew was carrying out circuit training at BK. Having already been sent around because of a train crossing the runway the crew were ordered to overshoot the next approach because of a steam roller on the runway. As he overshot, the pilot asked what the steam roller was doing on the runway? The sharper than average (?) local controller simply replied "Rolling!"
Another circuit was wasted as the pilots were laughing too much to fly a steady approach the next time round!

[Rocket2]

Back in the days when we had an Air Force we had a Flight Checkers Meeting at Benson & the Itallian crew landed at Chalgrove:oh:

[Navaleye]

If you look at Google Earth, you see what a easy mistake the guy made, no one was hurt, no harm really done. I hope he keeps his job.

[timex]

Good job no one was doing a session of GFP...hope he got a bollocking for not making a 2 min call.

If you look at Google Earth, you see what a easy mistake the guy made, no one was hurt, no harm really done. I hope he keeps his job.

Actually it would have been a dodgey approach as he had to fly over the high ground 4 miles E of BKY, scary thought.

[teeteringhead]

high ground 4 miles E of BKY,... not called "Ben Twitch" for nothing .....

[Admin_Guru]

During WW II many an airman fastracked to eternity on that mountain. I know that Shacklebombers flew that approach but at least they knew what they were doing. Gutsy move Mav....guy deserves to keep his job, he is not the first to make a mistake like this and for sure he will not be the last, in the meantime, he can obviously handle the cab, would be a loss to loose such "expertise".

[merlin505]

Originally posted by ACW350
Brings back memories of our squadrons detachment there quite a few years ago from when we were based at Belfast City airport, we flew up there and completed a couple of succesful courses for our students. Many a time while wizzing around the circuit we would get a call over the radio and request our circuit height be lowered due to inbound on the ils at derry. I also remember the controller maxing out and just announced on the radio "everyone stop right there" while he had his busy bit of the day i think one inbound and one out!!!!!!!!!
Fantastic airfield with our 2 aircraft, the parachuting club and the odd visiting heli from aldergrove. It is a good airfield to operate from. Except when the local battalion are been ordered on their weekly run!!!
"wornick nick wornicknick" soz private joke!!
Ahhh ACW350 me old mucker this brought a tear to my eye as i reminisced about those glorious summer days pretending to strafe the land rovers that meandered onto the runway whilst on finals.
"wornick nick wornicknick" lol haven't heard that one in years. "Jump Jump John", "Ok I'm jumping Sir" :ok:

[HTB]

How did the landrovers get on to finals? I hope they made the appropriate call first; and a little unsporting to shoot 'em when the wheels are down:O

[FJJP]

And then in the late 60s the Argosy landing on the northerly runway at Hal Far instead of Luqa...

Pity it had C-in-C MEAF on board. Oops!

[BillHicksRules]

Merlin,

"Jump Jump John", "Ok I'm jumping Sir" :ok:

Talk about flashback. That is from the ATC Chippie video, right?

I always pissed myself at that. Especially the credits and the end "John Andrews was played by Paul Young" why give him a bleeding new name?????

Cheers

BHR

[merlin505]

Originally posted by HTB
How did the landrovers get on to finals? I hope they made the appropriate call first; and a little unsporting to shoot 'em when the wheels are down

Well since we were permanently wheels down too (Vigilant) and since they were the ones who initiated the game of dodgems we figured they were fair game lol.

posted by BillHicksRules
Talk about flashback. That is from the ATC Chippie video, right?

Yes it is lol. Its the way the whole thing was completely nonchalent that used to crack me up!

[Krystal n chips]

Well that’s one way of avoiding landing charges, I knew they were lo-cost but that’s a bit extreme.
Heard a story a couple of years ago of a light aircraft on visual approach to Nottingham Tollerton. The controller couldn't see the a/c but the pilot was adamant he had a visual. "I can definitely see the runway, I've just landed on it" claimed the pilot who was then rather bemused by a number of VGS guys demanding to know why he had landed on their airfield (Syerston). Poor chap.

A not unknown event it seems. Mid 70's I was duty pilot on the day with Four C's Gliding Club. We watch, with interest, as a Tri-Pacer joins and lands. Despached to find out "who that :mad:" is, arrive at a/c as pilot gets out, followed by pax. Pilot is a "late middle aged gentleman" and pax is "a very much younger lady". Look at baggage in a/c and put 2+2 together.Pilot says "Sywell is quiet to-day then?"--put on best samaritan voice and explain this is Royal Air Force etc. Slight "oops" look from pilot. Explain will need to speak to "higher authoriity" blah, blah and to wait with a/c. Duly inform Duty Inst---and the troops :E of course. "like lambs to the slaughter" then follows. We decide on the "good cop / bad cop" plan of action. Invite pilot and pax to bus for tea n biccies, help with navigation:hmm: and sympathy etc.. pilot looks very relieved at this bit--sucker !---then comes the sting "We er, just need a few details from you sir-for our records" etc. "and those of your wife ?--or daughter ? of course". Try saying that and keeping a straight face--"difficult" is an understatement ! . Cue very red faced pilot and the classic "Mr and Mrs Smith" response :uhoh: Enter the bad guy--higher authority etc " This is a military airfield sir, M.o.D property, Official Secrets Act " blah blah so we really have to insist or the a/c can be impounded etc". Personal details are then given--actually the young lady was very forthcoming and not at all coy--unlike her driver. After the details have been noted--with all due seriousness of course--albeit on a gash bit of paper on a clip board--pilot is asked to continue journey etc. After a wobbly take off--it's probably just as well he didn't glance sideways--to see an awful lot of convulsed bodies at his expense. :ok: :E Not sure if it put him off his stroke for the rest of the w/end of course.

[The Helpful Stacker]

Talk about flashback. That is from the ATC Chippie video, right?


"Pull the yellow toggle to release the flap then slide the canopy back to the first stop by using the yellow handle...."

I'm glad I never had to jump out of one.:eek:

[ZH875]

Good job he was one of the one-winged Master Race who did well at school.:=

Maybe geography was not his strong point. :O


IIRC a B707 land at Northolt many years ago, and have to be de-fuelled to min and have all the seats removed so that it could hop over to Heathrow.

[ShyTorque]

Today, by an amusing coincidence, the Irish Times newspaper carried a full page advert for Ryanair.

At the bottom, it said: "Now, many new interesting destinations" :D

Coming to a barracks near you!

Some years ago, a certain Navy Wessex pilot (and I know exactly who) was carrying out a night landaway at RAF Odiham. After being cleared to land nothing was seen of him. Then came a request for taxy instructions. ATC asked if he had lights on, he said affirm (or aye, whatever Navy pilots say). They asked which part of the airfield he was on and he said next to the airliner. ATC then advised him to taxy five miles northeast from Lasham......to THEIR airfield. :E

[maccer82]

Back in the day (well before i was a glint in the milkmans eye) didnt the RAF have a lot of trouble at Singapore due to there being two airfields very close together with similar runways? And from what i have heard quite a few pilots got their left from their right wrong a few times!

And then there is the stories at Bruggen where jags would call finals only to be told by ATC 'Not at this airfield you aint' and the pilot having to swallow his pride and call 'Roger, overshooting Laarbruch' :E

And whats all this about Derry? Surely its Londonderry?

[buoy15]

Maccer
Be quoite now sir
After all, we wouldn't be wanting any more troubles now, would we, to be sure!

[Spot 4]

The aircraft was EirJet, although I suppose it could have been leased to Ryanair.
http://photos.airliners.net/photos/middle/1/6/5/1003561.jpg
I was at the central england school of excellence when known as 2FTS and a Yak landed on a sunday, pilot taxied up to where I was, stopped engine, jumped out and asked where he was? I couldnt help but laugh, especially as he was optimistic about him being at Halfpenny Green (Wolverhampton), had he said Sleap, then that would have been fair enough (ask a Tucano pilot) but Wolverhampton!!

F15 lands at Wyton and asks Alconbury where to go

F1-111(s) complete an airfield attack at Manchester Intl for the benefit of the Woodford airshow

B52 bombs Blackbush in lieu of Farnborough

As a spacie gliding at Burtonwood an AA5 landed, but at least in this case the guy admitted, "First nav cross country, totally lost, can I use your phone", a little while later he departed flying IFR "I follow roads" which in his case got him back to Barton.

Although there is a long history of mis-identing airfields, it is surprising in these GPS equipped days that it is still happening. During the war, it was a daily event butthen there were trillions of airfields all close together.
EIRJET
History
The airline was established in 2004 and started operations on 23 December 2004 with an inaugural flight to Agadir with an Airbus A320. Another 2 aircraft were added in summer 2005 to add flights from Cork and Shannon. The company founders include former Skynet Airlines personnel and Bernard Healy, who owns Idray, a Dublin company controlling the operations of Omni Tours, Omni Travel, Malaga Express and Faro Express (ref: Airways, March 2005).

Eirjet has made an application to the United States Department of Transportation to permit the airline to perform ad hoc charters between Ireland and the US, within the US and from the US to third countries.

The airline has an unusual philosophy of leasing aircraft, as on 18th February, 2006 the airline had all three Airbus aircraft wet leased to Ryanair and hired in three aircraft, from airlines including Transavia, Flyjet, and Eagle Aviation to cover their own charter program.

Fleet
The Eirjet fleet consists of the following aircraft (at January 2006):

3 Airbus A320-200 EI-DIJ (ex-Monarch Airlines) and EI-DKF (ex-Air Jamaica)
In March 2006, Eirjet fleet average age is 9.6 years old. 9 year old pilots; Thats why!!


Incidents
On March 29, 2006 an Eirjet aircraft wet leased to Ryanair accidentally landed at British military airstrip at Ballykelly instead of City of Derry Airport which is 8km away.

[Blakey875]

Without getting myself into too much trouble in the 90s one of Lyneham's finest landed at Ankara International instead of Akinci.......

[BEagle]

I thought it was Adana/Sakirpasa (LTAF) instead of Adana/Incirlik (LTAG)?

Unfortunately the dullard muppets would keep talking about 'Adana' or ADA (which is actually Sakirpasa - there is no IATA indicator for Incirlik) instead of Incirlik. Presumably because of their love of using baggage-crunchers' IATA-speak instead of ICAO indicators? So it was bound to happen to someone, I guess.

[flipster]

Rumour has it that the person was actually the Lyneham Stn Cdr (but ex Brize, of course)!!

Apparently, he was late for the brief and rushed to get airborne (if that is possible out of Lyneham?).

On discovering his mistake at the far end, it is rumoured that he downgraded the rest of the front-end crew (it was all THEIR fault, apparently), while he maitained his B Cat.

I can't confirm this - but that was the rumour that filtered back. Certainly, what little credibility he had went up in smoke - the same way as Tony BLiar's is doing now!

[Human Factor]

Look closely. :E

http://img502.imageshack.us/img502/5803/eirjet7wv.jpg

[Blakey875]

Flips/Mike - Yes you are both correct and he wasn't a nice individual. Believe the Movers on board took some heat as well as they started to undo lashings once aircraft stopped and so he couldn't make a quick escape...
Beags - it happened at Adana/Incirlik too?

[BEagle]

Don't know - I was told it was LTAF instead of LTAG but that may well have been incorrect.

[NURSE]

wasn't there an incident in the mid-late 80's of a civilian flight for Aldergrove that landed at a 'closed' airfield late on a sunday night.

Great Pic HF

[flipster]

I thought it was further north - Ankara or Istanbul - I'm talking about the Stn Cdr (LYE) in Turkey and not the ac in Northern Ireland! Langford Lodge, Ithink that was - an ex USAF base, which became Martin-Baker - and is still mentioned on the EGAA TAPs!

[propulike]

The long ex-Lye Stn Cdr landing at Adana instead of Incirlik is a well told story. Anyone who's flown the approach onto the Easterly runway would acknowledge the similarity in layout - but that doesn't stop it being any less embarrassing!

[Mach2]

Back in 1969 a Lightning on an emergency diversion from Wattisham to Coltishall in poor weather, ignored guidance from ATC that he still had 5 miles to run, and landed at Horsham St Faith (now Norwich International) on the short, out of use runway which happened to point in the same direction as Coltishall's main runway but lay way out on the approach :\ . With the Lightning's marginal braking performance, he only just managed to stop before the end of the runway, burning out the brakes and wearing out the tyres - all needed changing before he could move again. Getting the aircraft out again proved challenging, too - minimum fuel, 'burners lit before brake release, and a 2 minute hop to land at Colt when ATC had cleared both circuits!;)

[Dan Winterland]

Asked for take off clearance at Leeming once, was told to hold. After a minute we asked "Why the delay"? "Unidentified aircraft in the circuit" came the reply.

We then spent 3 minutes watching a JP3 fly a perfect PFL pattern touching down just after the numbers, probably making his RT calls to a mystified Topcliffe tower.

It had 2 occupants as well - probably 2 QFIs on SCT!

[ORAC]

The Legacy of Douglas Corrigan: "Wrong Way" Landings By Commercial Airliners (http://www.thirdamendment.com/wrongway.html)

[olddog]

Nice picture of the last steam train crossing the runway at BK with a real aeroplane paying tribute. If this situation occured during airfield ops the aircraft gave way to the train!!

http://web.ukonline.co.uk/n.feist/Shack/Shack.htm

[BEagle]

I also recall a tale of the good folk at Sunderland Flying Club watching with amused astonishment as a Buccaneer with some emergency landed at Usworth instead of Newcastle Woolsington?

[airborne_artist]

http://www.hrmconsultancy.net/images/norwich.jpg

[spekesoftly]

Fancy painting " 'Nickers Of Ready, When I Come Home" on a runway - whatever next!! :E

[2port]

Beags

This was floating around in another thread about a year ago - at least I've got back up this time that it WAS the Ankara airfields, not the Adana ones.

2P

[old developer]

olddog, thanks for the link, wonderful memories