Posted on 01/11/2007 5:22:18 PM PST by Excuse_My_Bellicosity
The crew of an Airbus plane with 39 passengers on board landed at the wrong airport, an accident report revealed today.
The Dublin-based Eirjet flight, being operated on behalf of Ryanair, should have touched down at Derry, the Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) said.
But the Airbus A320, flying from Liverpool, landed at Ballykelly airfield, an ex-RAF base now used by the British Army, about five miles from Derry Airport.
The AAIB report said air traffic controllers (ATC) had been told by the Airbus A320 aircraft crew: "We've just touched down." ATC replied: "It was the wrong airport, you've landed at Ballykelly."
The A320 crew replied: "I know we have." The passengers and bags were unloaded and taken by road to Londonderry.
Another crew then flew the plane out of Ballykelly. The report said the crew of the A320 had had problems with their instrument landing system and asked for permission to make a visual landing at Derry on the day of the incident - March 29 last year.
The report added that the 59-year-old captain said that once he saw Ballykelly, and not knowing there was another airfield in the vicinity, "his mind-set was that this must be his destination airfield".
The AAIB said that, before the flight, the captain had tried in vain to obtain a copy of the Derry airfield charts. He got them a day after the incident and said that, had he seen them previously, he would have been fully aware of the existence of Ballykelly and would not have landed there.
The report said the co-pilot was not aware of the existence of Ballykelly and stated that he, too, had the same mind-set as the captain.
Murphy!
At least it was a safe landing. Could have been worse such as too short of a runway.
Even if it's at the wrong airport....
Yeah, I was worried when the first sentence mentioned an accident report. If the worst thing that happened on your flight is that you have to be bussed 5 miles to your gate, I'd say you're doing alright.
Well, dammit, they shouldn't put airports do close to each other!
I just got back from Ireland a month ago, and I can't believe they could land anything more than a Cessna at Derry airport!! Maybe they were better off landing at the airbase, except they had a better chance of being killed on the road back to Derry.
Still, someone will probably get fired for the screw up.
comments please?
http://www.hmm-364.org/sneaked.html
What, this is not Danang?
That pilot needed microsoft "Flight Simulator" to practice with landing.
Is this Kansas City, Kansas? ... Kansas City, Missouri?
The only thing that is surprising is that it doesn't happen more often.
ML/NJ (who has never made this mistake, but has made plenty of others)
That's what I'm thinking. A safe landing is a good landing. Better to take the bus than be held hostage on the ground inside the airplane.
I'm guessing the pilot's name was Corrigan?
Two kind of pilots - - those who have landed at the wrong airport, and those who are going to land at the wrong airport.
Same as with gear up landings.
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