Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Southwest Airlines Plane Lands At Wrong Airport, Almost Careens Off Cliff
Forbes online ^ | Jan 12, 2014 | unknown

Posted on 01/12/2014 11:20:27 PM PST by zipper

"...scheduled to fly to Dallas with a stop in Branson, Missouri (BKG) but instead, the aircraft touched down at Taney County Airport (PLK), 8.6 miles away from its intermediate stop"

(Excerpt) Read more at forbes.com ...


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: airport; boeing737; braking; missouri; southwest
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-77 next last
To: Jack Hydrazine
I wasn’t talking about finding the right airport. Only about the landing.

And I am saying they go together. I think finding the right airport is a generally accepted requirement for competence.

And since there is only one runway where they landed, and it was about half what they expected (at the other airport) then it's pretty important.

Not to mention I seriously doubt Southwest can dispatch to a runway only a little over 3,700 feet long.

21 posted on 01/12/2014 11:57:31 PM PST by zipper ("The Second Amendment IS my carry permit!" -- Ted Nugent)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: GeronL

Yes, a C-17 landed close to Tampa at a small airport, a similar screw-up. They also had only a few feet remaining by the time they stopped. The crew was replaced and the C-17 was flown out a few hours later, much to the embarrassment of the AF.


22 posted on 01/13/2014 12:00:06 AM PST by zipper ("The Second Amendment IS my carry permit!" -- Ted Nugent)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 16 | View Replies]

To: USNBandit

Very true. 30 degrees flaps is standard. I’m sure that is what they were running on the landing at this airport.

I don’t understand why people are flipping out about this especially getting the aircraft out of that airport.

As long as they are empty of passengers and cargo, they have a good headwind (not difficult in the plains), density altitude is good, and loaded with minimal fuel they should be be able to a roll out and take off well before the hitting the numbers at the other end of the runway.


23 posted on 01/13/2014 12:02:38 AM PST by Jack Hydrazine (Pubbies = national collectivists; Dems = international collectivists; me = independent conservative)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 19 | View Replies]

To: zipper

There are three rules when flying that a pilot always needs to keep in mind at all times.

#1) Aviate - fly your airplane within its limits and within the FAR rules.

#2) Navigate - get to your destination correctly and on time.

#3) Communicate - Applies to your on-board crew and to those on the ground.

He got #2 wrong but it’s better than screwing up #1 and crashing.


24 posted on 01/13/2014 12:07:01 AM PST by Jack Hydrazine (Pubbies = national collectivists; Dems = international collectivists; me = independent conservative)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 21 | View Replies]

To: Greysard

JATO


25 posted on 01/13/2014 12:13:03 AM PST by Cvengr (Adversity in life and death is inevitable. Thru faith in Christ, stress is optional.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: Jack Hydrazine

I guess if you can’t get #2 right, #3 is flat out?

Are there no air controllers associated with these flights any more?


26 posted on 01/13/2014 12:16:58 AM PST by Cvengr (Adversity in life and death is inevitable. Thru faith in Christ, stress is optional.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 24 | View Replies]

To: Cvengr

Yes, there are air traffic controllers that are watching and guiding the flights but this one slipped through the cracks.

In the future airplanes will be guided by an on-board flight computer only and the air traffic control system will be completely automated.


27 posted on 01/13/2014 12:22:22 AM PST by Jack Hydrazine (Pubbies = national collectivists; Dems = international collectivists; me = independent conservative)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 26 | View Replies]

To: Jack Hydrazine

I wonder what the tower said when they cleared the flight to land but it never appeared...:^)

The correct airport had a tower, the one they landed at did not. It could have scared the **** out of any local pilots having a 737 appear on what was probably a straight in approach!


28 posted on 01/13/2014 12:48:53 AM PST by az_gila
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 27 | View Replies]

To: dfwgator

The irony is that SWA is eliminating Branson from their route structure this year, along with Key West and Jackson, Mississippi.

As an aside, it’s interesting that the country’s most savvy airline is eliminating two popular tourist attractions in this “recovering” economy.

But, hey, two more jobs have just been created.


29 posted on 01/13/2014 1:59:56 AM PST by Laslo Fripp (The Sybil of Free Republic)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: pepsionice

You have it exactly correct. We have the same situation with the truck profession. It is a crime what is expected of truckers. Impossibly long hours every day for far too little pay.


30 posted on 01/13/2014 2:34:42 AM PST by gunsequalfreedom (Conservative is not a label of convenience. It is a guide to your actions.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: zipper

Good one. It ain’t how short the runway is that is at issue. Its the inability to find the correct airport that is at issue.


31 posted on 01/13/2014 2:37:17 AM PST by gunsequalfreedom (Conservative is not a label of convenience. It is a guide to your actions.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: zipper

You would think that after being “cleared to land on runway three-two” the PIC would have aborted the landing when he saw the “30” at the end of PLK.

I almost did the same thing many years ago approaching Ellenville (N89) instead of Wurtsboro (N82) but broke it off a half-mile out.


32 posted on 01/13/2014 2:43:58 AM PST by NY.SS-Bar9 (Those that vote for a living outnumber those that work for one.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: pepsionice

And yet the US carriers are safer than they’ve ever been. How to explain that with the level of incompetence in today’s cockpits? /s/


33 posted on 01/13/2014 3:03:28 AM PST by saganite (What happens to taglines? Is there a termination date?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: az_gila
I wonder what the tower said when they cleared the flight to land but it never appeared...:^)

Probably something similar to what I said when it happened to me, when I worked in a tower in Vietnam.

34 posted on 01/13/2014 3:08:56 AM PST by Mark17 (Chicago Blackhawks: Stanley Cup champions 2010, 2013. Vietnam Veteran, 70-71a)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 28 | View Replies]

To: pepsionice

“most all airline pilots were former Navy or AF pilots, and paid at a sufficient level for their work”

Soooo true! I am a Navy jet pilot (O-5) who is current as an instructor in the T-45. I can’t get hired by the airlines. The HR folks have taken over the hiring part for the airlines and it is so touchy feely, guys like me have difficulty passing the strange psych tests (at least that is what I figure I am doing wrong).

As a matter of fact, I have been trying to retire the past six months, but I can’t get hired by anyone. Walmart corporate called, but I have to start out as a cashier.....too funny.....I have a USNA degree and an MBA, but the job market is so terrible, Walmart is the only callback out of 50 applications.


35 posted on 01/13/2014 3:09:19 AM PST by ThunderStruck94
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: hamboy
“Actually US-born Asians with US-FAA airline transport pilot ratings have to go work in the middle east because they hardly get decent pilot jobs in U.S. airlines even if they were USAF graduates.”

What? I'd give anything to be Asian or Black right now as a pilot. It sucks being a white, middle aged, pilot trying to retire from the military and enter the airlines. I'd be hired today.

36 posted on 01/13/2014 3:13:06 AM PST by ThunderStruck94
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 18 | View Replies]

To: xjcsa

They could retrofit a few JATO units to be on the safe side.


37 posted on 01/13/2014 3:26:01 AM PST by soycd
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 13 | View Replies]

To: zipper

What about the trucking companies know their big rig(s) went off course, how can this happen?


38 posted on 01/13/2014 4:15:49 AM PST by Sir Napsalot (Pravda + Useful Idiots = CCCP; JournOList + Useful Idiots = DopeyChangey!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: az_gila

My mother’s uncle recited this story. During WW2, he was on a bomber flying from somewhere in Texas to Newark NJ. There was light fog. The pilot asked the tower if they were clear to land at Newark. The tower said yes but we don’t hear you. (no radar then). The pilot said they would see the runway lights ahead. So, the tower told them, OK, it is clear to land, there are no other aircraft but we still don’t hear you.
As they were decending, my wife’s uncle started screaming to the pilot: PUll Up PULL up, it is the George Washington Bridge (maybe Cristi’s father had the lanes open?). They barely missed putting the plane into the bridge which would have been near the time a B25 crashed into the Empire State Building. So went his brush with fame.


39 posted on 01/13/2014 4:33:51 AM PST by Mouton (The insurrection laws perpetuate what we have for a government now.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 28 | View Replies]

To: ThunderStruck94

That is typical these days. I’m sure you have tried the major freight carriers as well.


40 posted on 01/13/2014 4:40:02 AM PST by HANG THE EXPENSE (Life's tough.It's tougher when you're stupid.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 35 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-77 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson