# Atas Air 747L Lands at Wrong Airport



## PRR 60 (Nov 21, 2013)

In a mistake reminiscent of last week's Amtrak Cynwyd snafu, an Altas Air 747 Dreamlifter, used by Boeing to haul assembly segments of the 787 Dreamliner, landed at the wrong airport near Wichita, Kansas. The plane was supposed to land at McConnell Air Force Base, used by Boeing for 787 segment transport. Instead it landed at Jabara Airport, a nearby general aviation field. The sole runway at Jabara Airport is 6101 feet long x 100 feet wide - a really tight fit for a jumbo. According to ATC recordings, the plane was given clearance to land at McConnell, then once on the ground, asked for taxi instructions. The McConnell controllers told them they had not landed at their field. The crew then thought they had landed at Beech Field, a larger nearby airport. Wrong again.

Boeing, with a police escort, moved a tug down public roads from McConnell to Jabara to turn the plane around and position it. In a one in a lifetime opportunity for local plane spotters, a new crew has been flown in and the 747 will take off at noon today. Boeing says the short runway will not be an issue.

KAKE News

Jabara Airport


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## Ryan (Nov 21, 2013)

That's awesome. I would have loved to hear the cockpit conversation that ensued.


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## AmtrakBlue (Nov 21, 2013)

RyanS said:


> That's awesome. I would have loved to hear the cockpit conversation that ensued.


I heard/saw it on the news this morning. Not sure if they played all of it though. They did play the part where the control tower asked something like "You're at Beech?".


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## jis (Nov 21, 2013)

Landing at the wrong airport or on the wrong runway or even on a taxiway parallel to a runway at the right airport, is not as unusual as one would imagine.

The earliest one in my memory is sometime back in the late 60s AFAIR when a Japan Airlines DC8 managed to land at the GA Juhu Airport in Mumbai (then Bombay) instead of at Santa Cruz International. The most recent one before this that I remember is a Continental (forget aircraft type) that landed on a taxiway at Newark.

Usually the ATC conversation tends to be very professional and non-judgmental, as it should be.


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## xyzzy (Nov 21, 2013)

Happens all the time. http://www.tampabay.com/news/military/macdill/air-force-blames-pilot-fatigue-for-c-17-landing-4-miles-from-macdill/1272014


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## Bob Dylan (Nov 21, 2013)

:blush: "Opps!" Wonder if this Crew will just get 3 Days and "Re-Training?"


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## SP&S (Nov 21, 2013)

It doesn't make it any better but it has been happening for years. I remember in '62 when a DC8, with 88 people on board, bound for PDX landed in TTD. The nose wheel was about 5 feet from the end of the runway. So much for making connections.


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## jimhudson (Nov 21, 2013)

MSNBC covered the Takeoff "Live" Today and "It Climbed Like a Homesick Angel!" as my Old Flight Instructor used to say!


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## Texan Eagle (Nov 21, 2013)

RyanS said:


> That's awesome. I would have loved to hear the cockpit conversation that ensued.


Here you go, transcript of the ATC communication the ensued. Found online while reading about this incident.

(G: Giant 4241 heavy, the 747 Dreamlifter

M: Mc Connell Tower, multiple voices, not sure which is which)

G: Good evening Mc Connell Tower, Giant 4241 heavy is on the bit.. arr... GPS... RNAV GPS approach 19 left

M: Giant 4241 heavy, Mc Connell Tower, wheels down runway 19 left, wind 140 at 4, cleared to land

G: Clear to land runway 19 left, wheels down, Giant 4241 heavy

M: Giant 4241 heavy [...] down

G: Giant 4241, go ahead

M: Giant 4241, [...] down and expect mid field turnoff at the double

G: Giant 1440... 4241 we'll get back to here you momentarily, we're not on the approach

M: Giant 4241 heavy, [the final?] is 9 miles south of you

G: [...] we just landed at the other airport [...], Giant 4241

M: Giant 4241 heavy, Mc Connell, talk

G: Ah yes sir, we got a... Uh, apparently we've landed at B E C

M: Giant 4241 heavy verify, you're on the ground at BEC airport

G: We think so

M: Giant 4241 heavy, Mc Connell Tower, verify you are full stopped and landing stopped at BEC airport?

G: Affirmative

M: Giant 4241 heavy, Mc Connell Tower, are you able to make an approach, departure from that airport

direct to Mc Connell

G: Tower we're working on those details

M: Roger

G: And Mc Connell Tower, Giant 4241 heavy

M: Giant 4241 heavy, Mc Connell Tower

G: Yes sir, do you have a quick... is there a tower frequency here? For Beech?

M: Giant 4241 heavy, Beech tower is actually closed at this time

G: Okay. Is there a Unicom frequency?

M: Giant 4241 heavy, stand by

G: And one more thing, do you have the coordinates for this, for the airport?

M: Giant 4241 heavy, stand by on that

M: Giant 4241 heavy, I have the coordinates, when ready to copy

G: Tower ready, go ahead

M: Beech is Kilo Bravo Echo Charlie, North 3 7 degrees 41 point 6 4, West 97 degrees 1 2 point 9 0

G: Okay, lemme read those back. North 3 7 4 1 6 4?

M: Affirmative

G: Okay, then East 9 2 1 2 9 uh zero?

M: West, 9 7 degrees 1 2 point 9 0

G: Sorry about that, can't read my own handwriting, West 9 2 1 2 decimal 9 0

M: West 9 7 1 2 deck 9 0

G: Okay, 9 7 1 2 decimal 9 0

G: All right, here's the coordinates we're showing currently for us: North 3 7 4 4 decimal 4, West 0 9 7 1 3

decimal 3

M: Giant 4241 heavy, roger

M: Giant 4241 heavy, did you do a circle around the airport and then land, or did you make it straight in?

G: Straight in, sir

M: Giant 4241 heavy, roger

M: Giant 4241 heavy, can you say your (???)

M: Giant 4241 heavy, from the target we saw on the radar scope, you were overshot, the target was

overshot at (???) airport, approximately 8 miles nort of Mc Connell airport, Unicom frequency is 1 2 3 point

7, say again 1 2 3 point 7

G: All right, this gentleman is giving us a frequency, we're going to try it out, 1 2 3 point 7 as well

G: Mc Connell tower, Giant 4241

M: Giant 4241 heavy, in contact

G: Yes sir, we're in contact with the company right now, we'll analyze our performance status

M: Giant 4241 heavy, roger

M: Giant 4241 heavy, affirm you know at which airport you are

G: Well we think we have a pretty good code, let me ask you this, how many airports directly to the

south of 19, uh 019 are there?

M: Giant 4241 heavy, you're currently north of Mc Connell, and three along the glidepath

G: (Background: Sorry man go ahead, something else.) We are showing about six miles north of you

M: Copy, six miles north

M: Giant 4241 heavy, affirmative, right now we just try to figure that

G: Okay sir

G: Tower, we just had a twin engine aircraft, turboprop aircraft go over the top of us

M: Giant 4241 heavy, roger, it appears you are (???)

G: Say again

M: Giant 4241 heavy, we saw the plane on the radar and it appears you are at Jabara airport

G: Say the name again

M: Jabara

G: Jabarrow?

M: Giant 4241 heavy, that's J A B A R A

G: Okay, all right, copy that

G: Okay we also show we are just short, about a mile short of Warren(?) now

M: Giant 4241 heavy, roger, yes, that's Jabara

G: And Mc Connell Tower, Giant 4241

M: Giant 4241 heavy, contact

G: Yes sir, looks like we do confirm it is Jabara

M: Giant 4241 heavy, roger


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