BA lands at WRONG airport - Edinburgh instead of Dusseldorf
Curious. If this is a regular daily rotation with that flight number is it not most likely that ATC at city would wonder why a flight with that number that usually goes to DUS has a flight plan and hence clearance to EDI? Or do such things not marry up in aviation? Is it a new service? How long has WDL been operating for BA from city and is it only on certain routes?
Join Date: Sep 2018
Location: United States
Posts: 3
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Back when US Air was driving Saabs between Dulles and ALB, I'd always ask the pilot where we were going when jumping/crouching/shoulder-rolling into the POS plane. More than once, the pilot and gate agent were not in agreement. And then we'd get a new crew, which created a long delay because of Mr. Saarinen's "People Movers".
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: SNA
Posts: 23
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
I recall a case study in goof-proofing procedures and processes. Southwest placarded the aircraft tail number at passenger and cargo doors and several servicing points. It's another "checkpoint" that saves about $250k annually by preventing boarding or loading baggage onto the wrong aircraft, miscatering, miscrewing, etc.
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: Teesside, UK
Age: 33
Posts: 1,100
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
i flew with WDL recently on a last minute sub-in for Hop from Strasbourg to Toulouse and they were spot on in terms of thorough announcements... did nobody in the cabin spot a mention of Edinburgh?!
If that's true, they were probably all avoiding sitting in the 146's window seats.
Join Date: Jun 2001
Location: at the edge of the alps
Posts: 447
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
In their case a roster might not be that much of a help as they probably get shifted around quite a bit depending on where CityJet needs them. As for the cabin crew checking boarding passes, welcome to the 21st century. Even if the occasional passenger shows his/her boarding pass, they ask about the seat row so that's what the cabin crew will be looking for. It would be more of a coincidence if they'd notice a wrong destination.
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: United Kingdom
Posts: 274
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
I think the title “Lands at wrong airport” is a bit misleading. The flight plan was to Edinburgh, the pilots intended to fly to Edinburgh and they did fly to and land at Edinburgh. So comparisons to Ryanair landing at the wrong airport by mistake are not appropriate and saying they should have queried a Northern SID is not a valid comment because all departures to EDI have a Northern SID so that is what the flight crew would have expected. Also no fuel anxieties because they would have had the fuel for their planned flight to EDI. There has clearly been a big cock up as to why the flight plan was to the wrong airport and my thoughts echo a lot of the other comments above.
Both pilots should be suspended immediately
Didn’t they even LOOK at the compass?
It sounds funny, but it just shows how the art of aviation has been lost for the ’art’ of electronic cockpit management.
Didn’t they even LOOK at the compass?
It sounds funny, but it just shows how the art of aviation has been lost for the ’art’ of electronic cockpit management.
Join Date: Feb 2018
Location: London
Posts: 32
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Might be worth reading one or two of the previous posts on the thread before hitting submit reply.
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Brisbane
Posts: 206
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
There is disbelief and amusement in this thread but there was potential for it to get very unpleasant. What if a few alert passengers started to think on the lines of MH370, 9/11 or Germanwings, with a rogue flight crew? (Coincidentally Germanwings was en route to Dusseldorf) A few text messages or calls to loved ones and the next thing you have a full on terror alert.
Back in 1967 I had a similar occurrence when flying as a F/O on the B727.
We were scheduled Sydney-Brisbane and at the same time another B727 was scheduled Sydney-Adelaide.
In their wisdom operations swapped aircraft due to future maintenance and informed everyone EXCEPT us.
We only found out the pax and F/A’s were all going to Adelaide when a passenger asked the F/A why the Pacific Ocean was out there on the right side of the aircraft and not the inland of Australia.
A quick anxious visit to the flight deck by said F/A soon told us that we were the only ones who did not know the correct pax destination.
A hasty radio call to Operations soon clarified matters and we turned for Adelaide and the other B727 turned for Brisbane.
It was tea and bikkies in the Airport Managers office for the Flight Ops people and Some very red faces.
Bit of a laugh though!
We were scheduled Sydney-Brisbane and at the same time another B727 was scheduled Sydney-Adelaide.
In their wisdom operations swapped aircraft due to future maintenance and informed everyone EXCEPT us.
We only found out the pax and F/A’s were all going to Adelaide when a passenger asked the F/A why the Pacific Ocean was out there on the right side of the aircraft and not the inland of Australia.
A quick anxious visit to the flight deck by said F/A soon told us that we were the only ones who did not know the correct pax destination.
A hasty radio call to Operations soon clarified matters and we turned for Adelaide and the other B727 turned for Brisbane.
It was tea and bikkies in the Airport Managers office for the Flight Ops people and Some very red faces.
Bit of a laugh though!
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: Auckland, NZ
Age: 79
Posts: 721
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Passenger query. Suppose someone in the cabin had realised they were going to the wrong destination, what could have been done about it? As far as I can see, the pilots were instructed to fly to Edinburgh, which they did in a normal, safe, fashion. Would it be possible to change to an unplanned destination in flight? Would it be possible to calculate fuel adequacy in the time available? Would there even be time to make sure all the passengers wanted to go to Dusseldorf? Seems likely the safest plan would be to carry on to Edinburgh and write it off to a paperwork problem in the back office.
There is disbelief and amusement in this thread but there was potential for it to get very unpleasant. What if a few alert passengers started to think on the lines of MH370, 9/11 or Germanwings, with a rogue flight crew? (Coincidentally Germanwings was en route to Dusseldorf) A few text messages or calls to loved ones and the next thing you have a full on terror alert.
