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 last
To: PUGACHEV

“Son, your ego is writing checks your body can’t cash” comes to mind, but I’m sure he’ll be happy living off his military pension, even with the COLA reductions.


61 posted on 01/13/2014 10:18:14 AM PST by zipper ("The Second Amendment IS my carry permit!" -- Ted Nugent)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 57 | View Replies]

To: Whats-wrong-with-the-truth
Where were the fed's "air traffic controllers?"

Once you accept a visual clearance you're on your own, they no longer have responsibility for your separation from other aircraft, let alone making sure you land in exactly the right place.

One good question to start with is, what percentage of approaches by SW pilots are "visual approaches"? It could be significant, if it's a high number and it's higher than the industry average.

62 posted on 01/13/2014 10:36:28 AM PST by zipper ("The Second Amendment IS my carry permit!" -- Ted Nugent)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 45 | View Replies]

To: saganite
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/

The correct answer to that question is: tick, tick, tick....

63 posted on 01/13/2014 10:44:30 AM PST by zipper ("The Second Amendment IS my carry permit!" -- Ted Nugent)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 33 | View Replies]

To: zipper

Very true. I’ve ridden their jumpseat. Frankly those of us fully vested in the safety systems everywhere in the rest of the airline industry wonder how SWA has put off a catastrophic event for this long. “Threat and error management” and formal SMS systems tell us that unless SWA changes their cockpit culture it is only a matter of time until it is changed for them. If it is changed for them, heads will roll at the FAA certificate management office that oversees SWA as well. The NTSB will finally get the attention of the public, and only then the media will ask, “what the heck is going on at Southwest?” Something pilots at other carriers having been asking for quite a while.


64 posted on 01/13/2014 11:26:58 AM PST by Tzfat
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 60 | View Replies]

To: ThunderStruck94

Just to threadjack for a moment, but are you applying to any Federal civil service jobs? Quite a bit out there right now, particularly for MBAs who know what Lean, Six Sigma and Agile are. Major preference for veterans in hiring as well ... agencies are competing with each other to hire the most vets.

And, IMHO, it’s in the nations best interest to have Conservatives in Federal service ...


65 posted on 01/13/2014 11:40:20 AM PST by tanknetter
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 35 | View Replies]

To: az_gila

Branson airport runways are 32/14, PTK runways are 30/12. Pretty close. Article did not say which runway the aircraft was landing on but passengers afterwards stated the aircraft almost went off a cliff. The ground does slope down off the departure end of runway 30 so perhaps the pilot was cleared for a visual to Branson runway 32 but flew and landed on runway 30 at PTK. Still, looks like two pilots are going to be looking for new jobs.


66 posted on 01/13/2014 12:05:59 PM PST by ops33 (Senior Master Sergeant, USAF (Retired))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 59 | 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.”


Why? That makes no sense. Is it discrimination or something else?

Also,why the Middle East?

.


67 posted on 01/13/2014 12:12:17 PM PST by Mears
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 18 | View Replies]

To: Tzfat

A couple of years ago I witnessed an SWA jet do a visual downwind to a left base to land at an airport in Florida — Tampa, I think — with a large, fast-moving cell directly over the airport. They were in the clear on downwind so could see the cell, but they flew the left ‘visual’ into the virga that completely obscured the field, with lightning coming out of the bottom less than a mile away.

They reported wind shear of +/- 20 knots on final.

I’ll never forget seeing that — they’re an accident waiting to happen.


68 posted on 01/13/2014 12:27:14 PM PST by zipper ("The Second Amendment IS my carry permit!" -- Ted Nugent)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 64 | 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.

I don't believe US-born Asians are singled out -- not one bit.

69 posted on 01/13/2014 12:30:14 PM PST by zipper ("The Second Amendment IS my carry permit!" -- Ted Nugent)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 18 | View Replies]

To: Tzfat

I said virga, but technically it was probably heavy rain, since it didn’t dissipate completely before reaching the ground.


70 posted on 01/13/2014 12:31:59 PM PST by zipper ("The Second Amendment IS my carry permit!" -- Ted Nugent)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 64 | View Replies]

To: All
BRANSON, Mo. — The Southwest Airlines jet that landed at the wrong Missouri airport is now heading back into service.

The Boeing 737 took off around 3 p.m. Monday from M. Graham Clark Downtown Airport in Taney County. Southwest spokeswoman Michelle Agnew says the jet will travel to Tulsa, Okla., for fueling, then return to service.

71 posted on 01/13/2014 2:58:45 PM PST by QT3.14 (Governments job is not to redistribute our things - it is to protect our liberties)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: All
(2005 photo) approach to runway 12, presumably showing the dropoff they would have experienced if they had run off the end of runway 30.

KPLK approach photo KPLK_rwy12_zps3a75c22b.jpg

Taney County Airport info:

http://www.fltplan.com/AirportInformation/KPLK.htm

72 posted on 01/13/2014 4:23:14 PM PST by zipper ("The Second Amendment IS my carry permit!" -- Ted Nugent)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 71 | View Replies]

To: zipper
Maybe somebody out there who is a pilot can explain this to me. How the hell do you land at the wrong airport? Don't you have GPS; air traffic controllers; navigational aids, etc.?

I guess it's a good thing there wasn't another plane landing or taking off on that runway as this wayward plane came barging in.

73 posted on 01/13/2014 4:38:22 PM PST by SamAdams76
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SamAdams76

The same questions we’re all asking.

I think they were probably on a visual approach (see my post #62), and they probably were cleared to land (at the other airport), but the basic underlying answer is, a lack of professionalism.


74 posted on 01/13/2014 5:12:47 PM PST by zipper ("The Second Amendment IS my carry permit!" -- Ted Nugent)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 73 | View Replies]

To: ops33
Branson airport runways are 32/14, PTK runways are 30/12. Pretty close. Article did not say which runway the aircraft was landing on but passengers afterwards stated the aircraft almost went off a cliff. The ground does slope down off the departure end of runway 30 so perhaps the pilot was cleared for a visual to Branson runway 32 but flew and landed on runway 30 at PTK. Still, looks like two pilots are going to be looking for new jobs.


The track shows a direct flight to the smaller airport. If he was aiming for Branson and expecting a right base for runway 32, then I would expect his track to be a little South of the expected track on FlightAware.

The larger map shows the opposite, just like his GPS was programmed for the wrong airport...:^)

http://flightaware.com/live/flight_track_bigmap.rvt?ident=SWA4013-1389336140-airline-0547&airports=KMDW+KBBG&height=528&width=400&departuretime=1389567240&arrivaltime=1389571860

75 posted on 01/13/2014 8:20:24 PM PST by az_gila
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 66 | View Replies]

To: xjcsa

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023218384


76 posted on 01/13/2014 8:24:42 PM PST by dennisw (The first principle is to find out who you are then you can achieve anything -- Buddhist monk)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 14 | View Replies]

To: SamAdams76
How the hell do you land at the wrong airport?

Yep, this was a NG model, with a much more descriptive instrumentation display available for the pilot to know positioning/approach details than the old traditional round-dial nav-instruments.

...(assuming of course...you make use of it).

Situational Awareness, Cockpit Resource Management(CRM), Sterile Cockpit Rules...lot's of stuff they'll be looking at on this one.

Kind of strange though that(in addition to the flight crew)they'd also suspend the poor sap in the jump-seat, believe he was just a dispatcher or something(fuel planner/WX)...I mean...not like he was a check airman.

Human error is one thing, with that drop off at the end of the runway...this could have ended up very bad.

77 posted on 01/14/2014 2:31:13 PM PST by RckyRaCoCo (Shall Not Be Infringed)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 73 | View Replies]


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