# Southwest Lands at Wrong Airport



## The Davy Crockett (Jan 13, 2014)

Oops! It has happened again - a large jet has landed at the wrong airport - only this time with passengers!

From this article at WTOP:



> BRANSON, Mo. (AP) -- Federal officials are investigating why a Southwest Airlines flight that was supposed to land at Branson Airport in southwest Missouri, instead landed at another airport about 7 miles away that only had about half as much runway.
> 
> Southwest Airlines Flight 4013, carrying 124 passengers and five crew members, was scheduled to go from Chicago's Midway International Airport to Branson Airport, airline spokesman Brad Hawkins said Sunday in a statement. But the Boeing 737-700 landed at Taney County Airport, which is also known as M. Graham Clark Downtown Airport.
> 
> "The landing was uneventful, and all customers and crew are safe," Hawkins said.


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## caravanman (Jan 13, 2014)

I always imagine (and hope!) that air traffic control and the pilots themselves know where aircraft are exactly, at any time... Seems mad that a plane can move to, and land, at a different airport and no one notices untill after the event?

Ed


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## XHRTSP (Jan 13, 2014)

This happens regularly at all levels of aviation unfortunately. It's a very easy mistake to make with poor planning and a little complacency. Many years ago I had to fight a pilot to keep him from landing at an airport 17nm short of our destination. A few years later I lined up on a road within the airport complex and for a few seconds was poised to land on that. Around the same time one of my colleagues landed on the wrong LZ in Afghanistan and got commander directed downgrades and sent home over it.


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## Ispolkom (Jan 13, 2014)

Superficially the two airports look similar, with one runway on roughly the same orientation. It does look bad when a commercial pilot makes this mistake.

I remember an incident several years ago when a private plane traveling from Canada mistakenly landed at Minot Air Force Base, rather than Minot Airport. (ProTip: if the runway you're landing on is 3 miles long and big enough for the Space Shuttle, you've made a mistake.) They no longer have bombers at 5 minute alert at the end of the runway, but the authorities still look negatively at such incursions.


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## PRR 60 (Jan 13, 2014)

The passengers on that aircraft were very fortunate. The runway at this airport (PLK) is only 3780 feet long with no overrun area. The expected runway at Branson (BBG) is 7140 feet long. Once on the ground, the pilots did a great job getting the aircraft stopped on a runway about half the length expected.

One funny comment at airliners.net:



> perhaps WN is experimenting with the Amtrak model - take your passengers somewhere, then stick them on a bus for the final leg of the trip.


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## Texan Eagle (Jan 13, 2014)

XHRTSP said:


> This happens regularly at all levels of aviation unfortunately. It's a very easy mistake to make with poor planning and a little complacency.


But should not have happened when the runway orientations are different. They were to land at Branson airport Runway 14, so when you are on final approach and see giant *12 *written on the runway, that should trigger a bell in your mind that something is wrong, and initiate a go-around immediately. I am not a pilot and even then I would have not missed this very obvious hint.


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## Bob Dylan (Jan 13, 2014)

When Houston's Inter-Continental (now GHW Bush) was First Opened it was Out in the Boonies besides I-45 and the Pilots called it "The Black Hole of Calcutta" because the Area Around it was So Dark @ Night! (Now Completely Built Up!) One Night A Continential Flight Landed by Mistake on I-45 instead of the Runway! It was the First Time a "Bustitution" was Used to get the Passengers to the Terminal! I can't Remember What Happened to the Pilots Involved!


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## XHRTSP (Jan 13, 2014)

Texan Eagle said:


> But should not have happened when the runway orientations are different. They were to land at Branson airport Runway 14, so when you are on final approach and see giant *12 *written on the runway, that should trigger a bell in your mind that something is wrong, and initiate a go-around immediately. I am not a pilot and even then I would have not missed this very obvious hint.


I'm pretty sure they landed at night. The numbers wouldn't have necessarily been identifiable until they were too late. Lack of approach lights would have been a bigger visual clue but it looks like they're out of service. Why they were not just shooting the ILS, or at least had it in as a backup, is the question needing answering.


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## saxman (Jan 13, 2014)

Texan Eagle said:


> XHRTSP said:
> 
> 
> > This happens regularly at all levels of aviation unfortunately. It's a very easy mistake to make with poor planning and a little complacency.
> ...


Well to be fair, runways 12 and 14 are only 20 degrees apart. Plus it was at night so you can't see the pavement markings. When it's visual outside, usually ATC asks pilots if they have a visual on the field. Once that happens ATC "releases" them under their own navigation and clears them for the visual approach. Obviously, SW thought they had visual on the runway and ATC cleared them. If the runway were more than 20 degrees off they may have noticed, but once you see the runway we just go for it. Usually airlines encourage their pilots to always put the runway or ILS "in the box," meaning put it into the flight computer so you have a nice little white line extending out of the runway on the pilots display. If you're on final approach and you're not on the line, something might be wrong. I wonder of the SW pilots did this.


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## trainman74 (Jan 13, 2014)

PRR 60 said:


> The passengers on that aircraft were very fortunate. The runway at this airport (PLK) is only 3780 feet long with no overrun area. The expected runway at Branson (BBG) is 7140 feet long. Once on the ground, the pilots did a great job getting the aircraft stopped on a runway about half the length expected.


In the future, this crew should be assigned to flights into Chicago-Midway and Burbank-Bob Hope -- since each one has seen a Southwest runway overrun incident in the past.


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## the_traveler (Jan 13, 2014)

I just saw a report about it on the NBC Nightly News. Just a few feet from where the 737 stopped at the end of the runway is a steep cliff and a highway below!


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## Texan Eagle (Jan 14, 2014)

XHRTSP said:


> Texan Eagle said:
> 
> 
> > But should not have happened when the runway orientations are different. They were to land at Branson airport Runway 14, so when you are on final approach and see giant *12 *written on the runway, that should trigger a bell in your mind that something is wrong, and initiate a go-around immediately. I am not a pilot and even then I would have not missed this very obvious hint.
> ...


No, it's not too late to initiate a go-around. You would see the "12" written at the end of the runway as you pass over it (generally 50ish feet above the ground) towards the touchdown point, After seeing this, even after the wheels touching the ground, you can still do a touch-and-go safely. I have experienced this in person (touch-and-go after wheels down, not wrong runway landing!)


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## jis (Jan 14, 2014)

Frankly we have insufficient information to form a firm fact based opinion on what was or was not possible. For example whether you can read the runway identification marker would depend on how well maintained the runway and its markings are, and also on whether the threshold is sufficiently displaced (unlikely on a very short runway). Anyway I'd trust a pilot's opinion on this like say someone like saxman.


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## XHRTSP (Jan 14, 2014)

You can disregard what I was saying about the ILS, I was looking at the wrong airport.(how fitting) There is no ILS to 14, just an RNAV approach. Still, I'm comfortable assuming that airplane was capable of flying that approach, so it should have been in the system, and it should have clued them in quick something was up.

As to seeing the numbers, they're only coming to come into view for a very short time before passing underneath the windscreen. At that point you've probably shifted your sight line down to the end of the runway. It's not impossible that could have saved them, but I wouldn't expect it to. The lack of 1000 ft markings, or even better the lack of PAPIs are far better candidates to be last minute saves.


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## The Davy Crockett (Jan 18, 2014)

The NTSB has released a report on its ongoing investigation into this incident.

Here is an excerpt from this article in the Branson Tri-Lakes News:



> In addition, the CVR contained two-hours of good quality recording. According to the CVR, the Southwest crew was informed by air traffic control that they were 15 miles from their intended target, which was Branson Airport. The crew responded that they had the airfield in sight and ATC cleared the aircraft for a visual approach and landing on runway 14 at Branson Airport. According to the CVR, the landing was uneventful and it was not until shortly after landing that the crew realized they had landed at the wrong airport.
> 
> On Thursday, Jan. 16, the two pilots and a Southwest dispatcher who was riding in the jump seat were interviewed by NTSB investigators.
> 
> ...


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