Boeing 747 Dreamlifter lands at wrong airport
 

A Boeing 747 Dreamlifter landed at the wrong airport at around 21:38 local time. It landed at Jabara airport in Kansas but was scheduled to land at McConnell Air Force Base (IAB) in Kansas.
The runway at the airport is not long enough to take off again.

Interesting enough the crew of two was not aware of which airport they landed. For minutes they thought it was Beech Factory airport. In fact they landed north of Beech at Jabara airport.

According @LiveATC the DreamLifter was 25mile from field at 9:12pm -- cleared for the ARNAV GPS approach to 19L at IAB

Jabara airport has a single runway and is located north-east of the city of Wichita.
McConnell Air Force Base is located in the south east of the city, has two parallel runways and is much larger than Jabara airport.

Both Jabara and McConnell have runways that are running more or less north-south.

For a map showing the position of both airports see this link
https://mapsengine.google.com/map/ed...M.kJkZGuBc9xd4

The Boeing 747 Dreamlifter is a modified Boeing 747 Freighter. It is used by Boeing to fly Boeing 787 aircraft parts like wings from various locations worldwide to Seattle. At Seattle the parts are asssembled to a complete aircraft.

The aircraft are flown and operated by Atlas Air. 2 persons on board. aircraft landed safely with no damage.

It appears the aircraft is not able to backtrack the runway. Boeing sents a tug to turn the aircraft around.

Massive Plane Mistakenly Lands At A Tiny Kansas Airport And Is Stuck There

photo
https://twitter.com/KAKEnews/status/...033216/photo/1

Now that is a real USA pilot skill 100%

Yeah m Sh*t happens! Not the first one and not the last one !

Lots of work to do now, like removing all unecessary things on board, pump out some fuel and then taking off on 6000ft should not really be a problem.

Still amazes me that this can happen. Routeing, navaids, onboard systems, visual clues all ignored?

Anyway, 6100ft is hardly "tiny". Many 747's (including 400's) have landed at an airfield called Kemble in the UK, with runway length about the same. Not many leave again (it's a centre of parting-out activity), but I expect a few have, and shouldn't be a problem with light load/fuel and a bit of wind in the right direction.

You betcha pard! :ok: Nobody hurt. Wish we could say the same about some other recent screwups...

Yeah, 6,000' won't be much of a problem at light weight. Except perhaps for the embarrassment...

An honest mistake and no one is hurt, no equipment damaged.
Hey, Singapore resident - much better than a Singapore Airlines 747 captain who took of from a closed runway in Taipei in 2000 and killed over 80 people in the process... :uhoh:

Reports suggest that when the aircraft had touched down and the crew asked McConnell for taxi instructions, only to be told "well you haven't landed here", they still couldn't work out where they were and believed they had landed at the Beech Factory Airport (KBEC, about midway between Jabara and McConnell).

Not too bad at all, at least they landed in the right state:}

I gather these pilots belonged to that well known F troop tribe?? :rolleyes:

Just makes you wonder how they find their way home from the airport? :rolleyes:

Something similar to the Saudi 747 screw up at Chennai many years ago . That also landed at Tambaram AF Station length 7000 .

Tower: “Do you know which airport you’re at?”
Pilot: “Well we think we have a pretty good pulse — how many airports directly to the south … are there?”

https://soundcloud.com/buzzfeednews/...fb-air-traffic

Boeing sent a tug from its Wichita facilities to the airport, to try and turn around the Dreamlifter, but that could take some time …

.....

Because on the way to the airport early Thursday the tug broke down.

:)

http://pbs.twimg.com/media/BZlGrGcCQAEFbaL.jpg

The aircraft are operated by Atlas Air, not Boeing.

the entire recording is on liveatc.net

Dreamlifter lands at wrong airport | LiveATC.net

you have to feel a bit sorry for them, it took them a while to find out where they had landed.

Surely the EGPWS would be going bananas with the aircraft landing at an airport that wasn't the destination.

How do you reconcile what you are seeing outside with what is programmed in the FMS and displaying on the NAV Display?

:confused:

Just imagine what the guys at the flight school are gonna think when they go to do their run up...:)




You know it's bad when you have to ask ATC where you are

"Giant 4241 heavy, student pilot, first solo":O

Tug
 

The tug appears not to have a registration plate. Maybe that's why the police have pulled it over.

noticed not all links of recordings of ATC actually work.

This link worked for me.
It is a 6 minutes, 41 sec sound clip of the Boeing 747 working with McConnell AFB air traffic controller.

A most remarkable conversation. The cree of the Atlas Air aircraft is completely lost.

McConnell AFB ATC leared to land 19L. Then a few minutes later a very modest pilot voice can be heared:
We just landed at the wrong airport

Interesting enough the pilot believes they landed at Beech Factory Airport (KBEC). When McConnell controller asks the pilot "you are at BEC??" the pilot response is "we think so"

Beech Factory airport is located roughly in the middle between McConnell Air force base and Colonel James Jabara airport.
The crew probably were mistaken by three airports close to eachother all three having runways running in the same direction (more or less north/south)

The pilot then asks for a tower frequency and coordinates of BEC. Then a couple of minutes of communication between McConnell and the Atlas Air trying to find out at which airport they actually landed.

After 5 minutes after landing the McConnell AFB controller tells the pilot he must have landed at Jabara airport seeing the radar track.
The controller even had to spell out the airport name to the pilot.

The pilot then confirms he is at Jabara.

A pretty carreer limiting move I guess.

https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url...origin=twitter

Something very wrong here (obviously!), but I'm suggesting the navaids, or reading of same, on this a/c?

Landing 8 miles North of dest field, then carrying out a long discussion with dest tower to query current position??!!

Super VC-10,

In some states, you only have to have a registration plate on the back ;)

The Boeing tug is actually escorted by the police for its drive from McConnell to Jabara because the max speed of the tug is about 13 mph.
Over public roads in the dark this is just a bit risky.

Radar? ATC? WTF??

That was Tipsy's point, I believe. ;)

Not necessarily. How do you think the system would cope during a no-notice diversion without loading the FMS with the new destination?

The EGPWS knows where it is from the GPS. I doubt if it matters what's programmed into the FMS flight plan.

It was a good landing...............plane still in one piece vs a great landing, usable vs an excellent one, you can take off again.......easily.

Question is whether you strip the aircraft down to allow it take off again knowing it will take a week or two or extend runway which appears possible based on Goggle Maps and get aircraft back in service.

Personally think runway extension probably a better idea.

"The recruitment of non type - rated delivery and customer instructor pilots who have not flown the planes professionally before but also lack white body experience in bona fide air operators. Recruitment of non rated guys with dodgy airline experience as instructors at Boeing Training/Alteon. The dumbing down of Boeing pilots with the side - lining of the pilots affliated with Manufacturers Pilots Association. All this will surely lead to the slide down where sh*t will certainly happen!http://images.ibsrv.net/ibsrv/res/sr...lies/yeees.gifhttp://images.ibsrv.net/ibsrv/res/sr...lies/yeees.gif "

Puleeze... where do come up with this BS? Save it for another forum!:}

Re runway extension in last post.

Remember a Cork friend telling me of a Mexican aircraft which got into trouble over Ireland and believe Shannon ATC guided it to land at a racecourse.

Apparently insurance company were very happy to have runway laid to ensure aircraft could take off again, bearing in mind the alternative.

Good old Goggle allowed me to find it
In 1983, a Mexican private jet made an emergency landing in Mallow, Ireland and had to stay for five weeks so a runway could be built, during which time the pilot became a local celeb. - OMG Facts

Wichita local tv station KAKE News has a reported at Jabara airport and does live reports on the situation. See actually does not know more than that has been reported in this thread.

live stream
Livestream

The aircraft (registration N780BA) landed in a southerly direction at runway 18. The Boeing tug turned the aircraft 180 degrees nose heading to the north. The tug is now pushing the aircraft back towards the beginning of runway 36.

Not too familiar (yet) with local details, but orientation of two runways seems similar, with a third same oriented runway parallel and in between.

Don't be so smugg. What if there was equipment on the runway they landed on? The result would have been the same as in taipei with obviously less people killed but thats not the point.

An honest mistake? Oh how I laugh.

Yes, there are some really good flight safety lessons to be learnt here, just like those we will learn from Asiana, UPS, Southwest etc.

However, the overall hypocrisy of this forum is not lost on me. I wonder how this particular thread would have evolved if the crew were Korean, African or even European?

There was a live report by someone of the authorities.

He told that Atlas Air states the aircraft will be able to takeoff with the current conditions. No need to extend the runway as suggested in this thread.
It is believed the aircraft is carrying cargo but cargo does not need to be offloaded for the takeoff. Also no fuel has been offloaded.

A new flightcrew is coming over t0 Jabara expected to arrive late morning. The crew will prepare the aircraft for takeoff. Takeoff will be at 12:00 local time today.

Airport official giving live news conference reports aircraft will fly out later once new crew have arrived from New York, within limits for TO.

Those DreamLifters are designed for carrying bulky items, not necessarily heavy items. It could be taking large but very light items - hence it is within TO limits (or it could be empty). Also it doesn't have far to fly so wont need much fuel!

Utter hypocrisy! Just a mistake when done by a group of people while total murder when done by another group!

<<McConnell AFB controller tells the pilot he must have landed at Jabara airport seeing the radar track. >>

Pity he didn't say something earlier..

It does raise some ATC questions though. If McConnell could see the overflying light aircraft mentioned on the ATC replay, why didn't they see where the Dreamlifter was going?
At the airport where I worked, this scenario arose at least 5 times way back, and it was always spotted and resolved by approach radar.

Sorry HD, you beat me by 3 minutes.

The Dreamlifter would have been inbound to the Spirit Aerosystems plant at McConnell to pick up a 787 forward fuselage, so it's entirely possible that it was empty on arrival.

I'd have thought the controller would have noticed the aircraft lining up on the wrong runway although, I was once released to call tower with the words "You are down wind for ****."
Well, I WAS downwind OK - but not for ****. :(

100 foot wide runway.....all they can do is push back to the other end of the runway a hope for a nice breeze from the right direction. Who said PCN?

Listening to the LiveATC.net recording posted above, we know thy were on the RNAV (GPS) RWY 19L approach. The IAF-FAF segment of that approach (WITBA to WARUN) is on a true heading of 186, and passes directly above KAAO airport. At KAAO, the runway is perfectly aligned with the approach centerline, on a true heading on 187. The alignment is perfect. Looking at the approach, at WARUN there is a heading change to 192. So then flying WITBA-WARUN, the only airport with runway aligned precisely at 12 o'clock is KAAO, not KIAB. I can see the mistake happening, horizontally this is a good match.

http://i1129.photobucket.com/albums/...ps91d56f5d.jpg

How about the vertical profile? WITBA to WARUN is 9 miles. WITBA to KAAO runway threshold is 6.7 miles. At WITBA they must have been at 4000', per the approach plate. KAAO runway 18 threshold is at 1401'. So they had to come down 2600 feet in 6.7 miles. That's a 3.65 degree glideslope from WITBA to the KAAO runway. Again, the vertical glide is also pretty good, it they had interpreted WITBA as a FAF.

It will be interesting to see what the investigators find and what actions may be taken. I can see how a single mistake of confusing WITBA for WARUN would lead to this. Not excusable from a professional crew, but I can see it happening.

Now here is another thing... The KAAO NOTAM:
AAO 11/008 AAO AD AIRPORT CLSD 1311210347-1311272300

So they expect to fly out of there today, but the airport is to be closed until the 27th? Runway damage perhaps? DreamLifter too heavy for that runway?

Empty Aircraft and a lot of wheels :)