I was listening to ATC too:

ATC: "confirm your DME"
Eirjet: "we're on the ground"
ATC: "you've landed at Ballykelly"
Eirjet: "I know"

:eek:

Looking at the VFR chart there is also another disused airfield at Limavady about 3nm east of Ballykelly. It could be that this was not marked on the ils plate but Ballykelly is (with the note) and he avoided Limavady and landed at the next airfield???

just a theory.

I think the other field you mention is Bellarena, mainly gliding. If anyone confused it for EGAE or Ballykelly then I do seriously wonder! The green surfaced runway is a dead give away :D

Ballykelly has

03/21 2000yds x 50yds Concrete (1830x45m, hardly unusual looking from the air?)
08/26 2000yds x 50yds Concrete
15/33 1100yds x 50yds Concrete

Getting it back out again shouldn't be much of a problem if that length is available and I can't think of any significant obstabcles around either, though I admit I am not very familar with the area.

Anyway, off to watch it on BBC Newsline now.

Edit: I best make it clear that I meant no significant obstacles from runway 26 at Ballykelly. Those of you who have just seen it on the news will have noticed the large hill in the background to the east of the field!! :D

No. It is marked on the chart as Limavady and it is shown as disused. it is also (as I said) 3nm east of Ballykelly and has a runway in line with Ballykelly and Derry. Bellarena is shown as 5nm NNE of Balykelly.

http://homepages.nildram.co.uk/~jodel/photos/BK.jpg
Should give an Idea for those that don't know the area.

Maybe so...but when the industry is all about reputation, certainly doesn't help. What if Ballykelly had been like Langford Lodge which is alongside EGAA and landed on runway in a state of disrepair...that's were the problem lies. OK...everybody makes mistakes but if such a rudimentary error happens then people are entitled to make that assumption .

Little of Limavady airport is left - it is now an industrial estate. What little is left of the runway is a carpark. It would be difficult to confuse this from the air

I'm not so sure. Have a look at Google Earth (even if it is a couple of years old). If you are told not to land at the disused airfield in the undershoot but no mention is made that there is a third (very disused) field you can see the potential for a c0ck-up.

When I was stationed at Ballykelly, I decided to drive my landrover down the runway at top speed to see how fast it would go. I magine my surprise when I hit a pronounced ramp which crossed the rwy at 90 degrees. My landie immediately got airborne, landing so violently that the spare was released from the bonnet and went bounding off across the airfield.
I think they had laid pipework or cables right across the runway, protected by this large hump.
Presumably they must have landed on a different runway as this one really isn't/ wasn't fit for use!

a320 wrong airport
 

hello everyone,

it is a very unfortunate event indeed. but instead of jumping into the blame game & firing all involved, which would be stupid to do, i' m much more interested to know why it did & could happen & what corrective measures to put in place to prevent it to reoccur. seems to be a problem of situational awareness/complacency. in this case, i suspect, murphy had again his way. we will never be able to defeat this guy completely, but the aim to do so should never be given up.if i were the chiefpilot, i would have a thorough debrief with the crew, seek mental counceling for them so that they get over it as quick as possible & protect them from irrational management & authorities, if required. organise some retraining if needed. i would try to dedramatise this as much as possible.
i think in this category, landing at wrong airports , unintentional gear up landings, ground collisions etc... . there are only two sorts of pilots: they who already did it, or they, who are going to do it some day or night.
however, no stone should be left unturned, in order to reduce such incidents from happening. although difficult, ego & pride loss should not be unsurmountable. always try to retain some positive out of a negative mishap.

I think most of us who have been around aviation long enough, or short enough for that matter, have been in a situation wher rushing has potetially led to a serious error. In most cases something occurs to break the final event however in this case it did not. There are many of us who are thankful for that last chance, so be more generous when castigating these guys. Those who cannot see the similarity with ther own life experiences are either stupid or been around 5 minutes!!

Pilot unsure of indications threw approach away.

Tick vg

Went round, found runway, landed.

All safe

Tick vg.

Large amounts of debrief about non-critical errors.

And yes I believe landing on the wrong runway is of itself non critical.

Now if there had been a Lynx halfway down the strip ...



Sven

Does the 320 "eat the runway" when you go around using TOGA?, i.e. does the approach or runway need to be reloaded?

RTE News have a report and video footage here. Link will only be valid for a few hours.

Ryanair release new web ad...
 

Just posted...

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f5.../RYANAIRAD.jpg

Wondered how long the persuit of cheap landing fees would take...

Few inaccuracies above Limavady is still identifable from the air, big problem although all airbourne traffic are controlled by Eglinton those on the ground are not, the military train on the runway and drive vehicles across without control but the major problem was that a train was due around this time and track crosses runway 26. The crew were unaware of the fence and just stopped and turned around short of it. Also there is not alot of the old runway retarred and marked out (about 1200m).

I think the a/c departed of 20 (1800m) tonight about 2030. Personally speaking the crew are at fault but they are not the only ones to do this ask the Irish Air Corp and also what was ??? doing in the tower it was obvious this a/c joined the wrong circuit and final approach.:sad:

Well
I suppose that it's closer to Derry than some of their other flights are to their published destinations.

Wonder if they charged for the coach trip?

http://dparker.net/pictures/eirjet_quicky.jpg

:}

Blackmail has it absolutely right. Murphy is alive and well and lurking in aviation. There are those who have done it and those who ... The unfortunate crew involved will take some time to get over it hopefully with the help of the company. Debrief, possible some refresher training to satisfy the Feds, a line check and back to work.

Of course it is easy to comment from 20/20 hindsight that this should have been done and that should have been done. Have everything switched on, check runway alignment etc etc. However, nobody was hurt, it's embarrassing for Eirjet and the crew but no more than that.

However, the quoted press release from Ryanair is cringe-inducing "in 20 years of Ryanair operated flights we've never had ..etc". If ever there was an invite to Murphy to wake up, that's one! I seem to recall the "Cork Ploughing Championships" and the afore-mentioned attempt to land on the old 26 at LPL (both by Tarom crews working for Ryanair, I believe), not to mention some recent events well reported here on Pprune. Ryanair has an excellent safety record, mainly due to the professionalism of their pilots. However, don't tempt fate, Mick. Your friend Murphy lurks in the long grass and has great patience.

The Times: ....Brian Mather, an Australian who lives in Sligo, said that the soldiers treated the passengers very well...... Some of the soldiers came on board and laughingly welcomed us to their international airport. There was no panic among the passengers, but I think the cockpit crew might be panicking a bit,” he said........