Posted on 06/23/2004 4:19:55 PM PDT by swilhelm73
By now you've probably heard about the off course airliner that grabbed national headlines Saturday by landing on an Ellsworth runway. But what you don't know, is what happened while the plane was coming in. Today three runway painters count themselves very lucky to be alive. Mike Palmer was one of the three painters repainting the runway's navigational stripes when they noticed the plane descending. At first they thought it was a fly-over, but when they saw the landing gear come down…they knew there was a problem.
The painters did not receive any advance warning since Ellsworth Air Force Base thought the plane was landing at Rapid City Regional Airport as scheduled.
For security reasons the 117 passengers aboard were forced to stay on the plane for nearly four hours and have since be given free airfare tickets as compensation.
Having been born and raised in Rapid City, none of this surprises me.
What airline was it?
Neither one of those pilots should ever fly commercially again.
I would want cash to buy SW tickets :')
NWA
On a wing and a prayer...
The runway sizes are so different that there is no way in Hell you can confuse the two from the air. This isn't the first time this has happened, however.
Murphy's Law!
What about the air traffic controllers from Ellisworth and from Rapid City ? Couldn't they tell that the plane was off course from their radar reading???
Neither one of those runway painters should ever be allowed to hold a paintbrush again.......
Don't you think that while on final approach the flight crew may have noticed the B-1B bombers sitting on the flight line, or maybe the B-52 sitting at the museum there? Or maybe the fact that the pavement is about 1/2 mile wide instead of 100'???
Even if a controller vectored them to the wrong airport, the pilots are still at fault.
I'm waiting for the day a plane lands on I-84 next to the Boise airport.
I'm not familiar with the area. All I know is that I would not want my family members getting on an airplane with those two in the cockpit.
Hadn't thought of it that way.
Although we issue a NOTAM that a maintenance crew will be patching crack on the runway, pilots usually have no idea that there may a problem at the airport. The maintenance crew does not have a radio and is often surprised when an airplane comes in for a landing.
Often, the maintenance crew is hidden behind a hanger and I have no idea where on the runway they are located. The only thing that I can do, is to notify landing aircraft on UNICOM that a crew is somewhere on the runway and to use extreme caution. If the maintenance crew is a problem for a safe, I instruct the pilot to make a low pass over the runway. The people on the ground get the message and clear out.
Usually that works out fine for everyone involved.
However, two weeks ago, I had a corporate jet making an instrument landing with a 400 foot ceiling. With that aircraft, he needed the full length of the runway for landing and would not be able to see any people on the ground until it was too late.
That is when I got into my own car and raced down the runway doing about 100 mph. Honking the horn and flashing my lights. Get off the runway ASAP!
Ah, the joys of being an airport manager.
I was joking the other day but next time they are out there they will probably paint AIR FORCE !
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