Chautauqua jet lands at the wrong airport!
 

A Canadair RJ that was bringing back the Notre Dame basketball team from Providence RI actually landed at Elkhart Municipal Airport instead of South Bend Regional Airport around 0130 on Wednesday. The two airports are about 12 miles apart. Towers for both airports were closed at the time.

Whoops!

As a "BOF",
I can remember... Air France Overshooting/Going Around at least twice from EGCD/Woodford 3.5nm SouthEast of EGCC/Manchester, [separate occasions, of course] also a USAF F111 doing a low [50'] flyby at Manch...during the Woodford Air Display:rolleyes: :confused:
At EGBB/Birmingham Itl, "Cleared to land, r/w 33....actually landed at EGBE/Coventry r/w 24:confused:
Also a BA B747 "nearly" landed at a mil a/f instead of OPRN/Islamabad:rolleyes:
ALL these examples are "VISUAL" approaches :D
we aim to please, it keeps the cleaners happy

Woops southern style.
 

Back in the 1950s a twin engine transport CV240 / Martin 404 was about to land at Patrick Henry airport in Virginia. They asked to have the lights turned on and as requested they were turned on but not at Patrick Henry. The lights were at an army field a few miles away. This field was set up for L-19 and Beavers and some Army light twins. The runway was made of PSP (Pierced Steel Planking) and was not long enough for a large aircraft. The pilot landed and did not discover this fact until he overran the runway and got stuck in the mud. The passengers were off-loaded, as was their baggage. The aircraft was towed back to the PSP and was systematically stripped of all of the seats and internal fittings. The Army engineers got some expedited experience in laying down some extra PSP to accommodate the extended takeoff requirements. After a very stringent inspection of the Aircraft the FAA authorized a one-time flight to Patrick Henry airport.

:eek:

1981/1982, QF B747 on visual approach to KLAX almost lands at the Hughes Airfield, just to the north/north east of KLAX. Starts G/A on very short final and turns left coming within 100ft of a University Church tower on top of a 300ft bluff. Bluff nearly invisible at night. Called a QF S/O mate and relayed story, thought I was company knocking/exaggerating. Told him to check out the hill/bluff on next daylight arr @ LAX. Calls back a few months later; he's re-telling the tale inbound to LAX on a daylight arrival. F/O tells him, "that was me, look at that hill!" :eek:

Norwich and RAF Coltishall are two fields close enough to have the occasional "mix up", usually a foreign visitor to Coltishall. I understand that a tie is presented to new members of the "where the hell am I?" club.:rolleyes:

ND

Lots of them in the late 50s into 60s. Several civil 707s landed at Changi(RAF) for Paya Lebar(Civ) R/Ws 20 at both airfields about 4 miles apart. Also RAF Comet 2 landed at Takali instead of Luqa on a line check by the boss of the Transport Examinimg Unit.
Neither Capt or Examiner aware until after landing!

A Saudi 747 landed at a small mil-field next to Chennai in the late 90:s. They had to send a team of engineers to lose enough weight on the a/c to get it airborne again.

Dont forget the Pan Am at Northolt in stead of LHR !
- then they painted NO on the Northolt gasometer !:D :D

And I thought that planes had GPS, INS and maps. Those satellites must be way off course!

Carrier landing
 

My grandfather landed his Hellcat on the wrong carrier in August '45. The crew on the Ticonderoga (wrong carrier) awarded him a medal for that feat. Flew back to Yorktown next day in absolute embarassment. :D

If the pilot decided to rely on visuals, he might not have known that you can't see **** coming into Michiana Regional (South Bend). There is a nearly constant cloud cover. I went to Notre Dame and the planes used to fly over us in the overcast and drop beneath it just in time to land.

I've been told this story a few times...

back in the mid-1980s a 747 mistook Ohio State University airport (KOSU) for Port Columbus International (KCMH). OSU is RWY 27 L&R and CMH is 28 L&R, so close..... just 5000 feet less room at OSU... (longest rwy is 5004x100 with trees at either end)

I'm told the smoke from the brakes was something to see, as well as the departure a few days later after off-loading seats, etc...

Just started operating into Hamburg EDDH and there is an Airbus strip (called Finkelwerter i think) at about 5 miles for RWY 05 virtually on the centerline and same QDM!! Confusing.

....and at the Farnborough Airshow in 2000:

A B1 bomber flew from the US for a fly by - and called visual with radar at 5 miles. The weather was a bit poor and ended up flying through Blackbush!!

They must have thought it was a crap airshow when they saw a hundred or so light aircraft parked up!

Fortunately, the weather meant there was nothing in the circuit, as he went through at 500'

Scary!

Well actually, Buster hit the nail on the head when he talked about the nav facilities. Getting "Visual" on a field (unless it's on the end of an ILS) need a very good crosscheck from all available nav aids before action is taken. As FO on a DC-10 I had a heck of a job convincing Capt and FE that the field they had visual was actually quite a few miles south of the intended original Amman destination. Yet there was the DME still showing 40 to go.

BOAC put a Comet into the wrong Canadian airport (Dorval and Mirabelle I believe) - just took off again and hopped over the river to the correct one.

(BOAC tried to get the crew on gear cooling time but they swore they had flown across with the gear down!)

Mirabel and a Comet?
 

Mirabel was opened in 1976. Was the Comet still flying at that time? I was on the first plane to land at Mirabel on opening day and our plane was the last to land on opening day as there was 14” of snow on the ground and there was more on the way.

:)

we`ve all joined the Fukawe tribe at some time or another. "WHERE THE FUKAWE!!!!!"

Lu - You are probably right. I did say "I Believe..."

However the basic story is true even if not Mirabel... I was told it by the F/O !! (now long retired)

Brings to mind the supposed RT exchange after one of these incidents.

ATC: Bigjet XX. Report your position

A/C: We have landed.

ATC: Not on my runway you havn't Sir!.