Wrong Airport

[Drd]

Can anyone explain this to me?How does a modern aircraft end up at the wrong airport?How many systems must it have on board to prevent this kind of incident?Beats me.I wonder where their luggage was?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/4859716.stm

[Reiner]

Originally Posted by Drd

Can anyone explain this to me?How does a modern aircraft end up at the wrong airport?How many systems must it have on board to prevent this kind of incident?Beats me.I wonder where their luggage was?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/4859716.stm

Well, if the "systems" flew (and landed) airplanes they would probably end up in the right place, but who would trust them and not put a pilot aboard?
But perhaps in this case the airport was too small to be equipment with an instrument landing system (ILS) - in which case I suspect pilot error is the most likely cause as the they might have been relying on visual clues rather than instruments (like the article mentioned).

Considering that nobody got hurt or was in danger I think landing at the wrong airport is rather funny in a way ...

[Drd]

Funny indeed,but I doubt it will do much for the pilot's career prospects!

[hillster]

Sheer class, I nearly choked on my cereal when I saw this on the breakfast news. The report said that the pilot was expected to lose hs job

[booyaka]

not to clever indeed!!

Going to London on the plane tommorrow - do you think that it might be mistaken for say tenerife etc???

[bobsplace]

Just heard this on the radio, the pilot said 5 mile is not too far off

He just saw a runway and landed it!

I'm in the flightpath for Newcastle airport, think i'll close my gates.

[neilneil]

I thought ALL commercial aircraft had to have an ILS. Guidance is essential during fog and poor visibility. The pilot should have locked onto the landing beacon and confirmed where he was landing.
I understand it was only a short hop. Imagine where this pilot could end up on a long haul flight!


-Neil

[Mr Cat]

reminds me of this joke!

Aer Lingus Flight 101 was flying from Heathrow to Dublin one night, with Paddy the Pilot and Shamus the co-pilot. As they approached Dublin airport, they looked out the front window. "B'jees" said Paddy "Will ye look at how short dat runway is".
"You're not kiddin, Paddy" replied Shamus. "Dis is gonna be one a' de trickiest landings you're ever gonna see" said Paddy
"You're not kiddin, Paddy" replied Shamus. "Right Shamus. When I give de signal, you put the engines in reverse" said Paddy.
"Right, I'll be doing dat" replied Shamus. "And den ye put de flaps dow straight away" said Paddy.
"Right, I'll be doing that" replied Shamus. "And den ye stamp on dem brakes as hard as ye can" said Paddy. "Right, I'll be doing dat" replied Shamus.
"And den ye pray to de Mother Mary with all a' your soul" said Paddy. "I be doing dat already" replied Shamus.
So they approached the runway with Paddy and Shamus full of nerves and sweaty palms. As soon as the wheels hit the ground, Shamus put the engines in reverse, put the flaps down, stamped on the brakes and prayed to the Mother Mary with all of his soul.
Amidst the roaring engines, squealing of tyres and lots of smoke, the plane screeched to a halt centimetres from the end of the runway, much to the relief of Paddy and Shamus and everyone on board.
As they sat in the cockpit regaining their composure, Paddy looked out the front window and said to Shamus "Dat has gotta be de shortest runway i have EVER seen in me whole life".
Shamus looked out the side window and replied "Yeah Paddy, but look at how wide it is!"

[Mr.D]

Originally Posted by Neil Sumner

I thought ALL commercial aircraft had to have an ILS. Guidance is essential during fog and poor visibility.

-Neil

I don't think the airports themselves have to have it installed though. 5 miles between two strips isn't very far at all.(about a minutes flight time even at approach speeds) If he was getting bugger all info from the controller and wasn't familiar with the area I can see how it could happen quite easily.

Especially if the strips were parrallel to each other ( which is likley as it tends to based of prevalent wind direction in the area). If he's on approach and the two strips are ahead of him seperated by 5 miles and he doesn't know there are two strips in the area he's going to head for the one he notices first , this might not even deviate from his last approved approach communication from the controller and no one even notices anything is odd until he's on the ground. Surprised no-one at the army strip warned them off then again it might be seldom used and pretty much unmanned. ( Ireland doesn't have a massive air force)

I've seen regular scheduled flights land at major airports without even waiting for confirmed permission from the controller , tends to be a case of the controller only getting involved to tell them not to land rather than giving them explicit permission.

I reckon the pilot will be hauling freight from now on though.

[Ed Selley]

Originally Posted by Mr.D

Especially if the strips were parrallel to each other ( which is likley as it tends to based of prevalent wind direction in the area). If

This is confirmed in the article.

[nsherin]

This also has happened in the past in other parts of the world. Dubai and Sharjah airports are located side by side, but about 20 miles between each other, so aircraft bound for Dubai have confused it for Sharjah and vice versa.

[Dom996]

This isn't the first time it has happened. As it was said the pilot was flying a visual approach (VFR). 5 miles apart is nothing at 135knots upwards, depending on how close you are. Also the Airbus A320 they were flying will be equipped with instrument landing equipment, the airports may well not have been.

[ush flynn]

Originally Posted by Mr.D

( Ireland doesn't have a massive air force)

Dont confuse Northern Ireland with Ireland... And in anycase people from both are eligible to join the RAF and there are plenty of airfields around

[Mr.D]

I didn't read the article so have no idea if it was Ireland or Northern Ireland. I was assuming Ireland as an army airfield was mentioned ratherthan an explicitly British one. Otherwise I wouldn't have referred to the Irish Air Force which I'm led to believe is somewhat minimal.

Are you saying it was a British Army airfield in Northern Ireland?

As for knowing the difference between Ireland and Northern Ireland I'm quite familiar with both being married to an Irish citizen.