and nobody in the Jeddah tower thought anything odd about this unscheduled plane in their pattern asking for landing clearance from RIYADH???
Posted on 04/21/2014 2:59:13 PM PDT by nickcarraway
Hundreds of Pakistani passengers travelling from Karachi to the Saudi capital Riyadh got the shock of their life when their aircraft landed and found themselves in Jeddah.
The pilot of flight 731 operated by the Pakistani International Airlines appeared to have mistaken the Western Red Sea town of Jeddah for the Saudi capital when he landed in King Abdul Aziz Airport, the Saudi press said, quoting Pakistani newspapers.
The carrier had to rent buses to transport the passengers hundreds of miles from Jeddah to Riyadh, the report said.
“Airline officials did not explain the reason for such a mistake while the passengers called for action against those responsible,” the Saudi Mzmz news website said.
How hard is this to do?
What’s the difference? Jeddah and Riyadh are both a lot closer to Mecca than Pakistan, /S.
Thank goodness that never happens here....
Not that unusual. I once boarded a flight to Honolulu and we instead landed on Maui.
Imagine the smell on that bus. I’d have to hold my nose but I would likely still throw up.
Why wouldn’t they have just flown them, instead of renting buses? Something doesn’t smell right. And it’s not just the passengers.
Maybe that 91 yr old nuclear phycisist who was demonized by the administration, and his property seized for being a terrorist right after the Malaysian Airliner disappearance, knew more than is being revealed. Are these flights being remotely controlled/hijacked?
I’d think there are other natural checkpoints in aircraft operations that would raise large red international flags even if it was intentional pilot error.
And Jeddah is on the coast while Riyadh is right in the middle of country surrounded by desert. I lived 5 years in Riyadh. I find it inconceivable how he could have mixed them up.
How did that happen?
I hope the passengers got back to Riyadh in time for prayers and to spend quality time with their cousin-wives.
Cheapy charter airline, SunTour Air, back when they had such things. They didn’t tell passengers they were actually going to Maui first to offload cargo before then flying to Honolulu.
The plane broke down when it landed on Maui (they couldn’t get the cargo doors closed again), and we sat in the un-air-conditioned plane for at least 2 hours before it took off again.
“Why wouldn’t they have just flown them, instead of renting buses?”
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I wonder the same thing. Maybe the runway is too short for takeoff for that plane, especially with such a big load.
and nobody in the Jeddah tower thought anything odd about this unscheduled plane in their pattern asking for landing clearance from RIYADH???
Hey, in all that sand, got to look about the same!
probably the identifiers were close and they just punched in the wrong one. If you have say KJHR and KRJH real easy. But - the FO is supposed to cross check what the PIC put in or other way round. I don’t know what the identifiers for those two airports are.
Seems there is some aeroplane skullduggery afoot.
Something just doesn't sound right about this. Even pilots notice when their flight is too long.
> and nobody in the Jeddah tower thought anything odd about this unscheduled plane in their pattern asking for landing clearance from RIYADH???
*shrug* Ins’allah.
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