Southwest Airlines Plane Lands At Wrong Airport, Almost Careens Off Cliff

Forbes online ^ | Jan 12, 2014 | unknown

[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"

[Tzfat]

Two decades ago....most all airline pilots were former Navy or AF pilots...

I've been an airline pilot for 34 years. 28 at a major. You have no clue. You are not even half right.

[Uncle Chip]

It’s the mark of a good pilot to be able to land anywhere.

Now if he is really good he will be able to persuade the NTSB and his supervisors that he was just practicing his emergency landing skills on a shorter runway and then watch his career really take off.

[rdcbn]

What do you mean by catastrophe?

If they are good they can land a 737 in as short as 3300 feet using 40 degrees flap, spoilers, and thrust reversers.

Santos Dumont Airport (IATA: SDU; Rio, Brazil) has a runway that is only 4341 ft. long. It receives 737s on a regular basis.

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A B737 is capable of landing on short runways IF properly configured and pilot technique flown for a short field landing on a 4000 ft runway.

If you think you are landing on a 10,000 ft runway with plenty of room and have the plane configured for an easy landing with long roll out that minimizes wear and tear on the airplane like Southwest pilots are taught to do and you are actually landing on a 4000 ft runway - well, lets just say things could get interesting.

[COBOL2Java]

I’ve come to note over the past decade that we’ve gone to the cheapest way possible of getting airline pilots.

And with ObamaCare, it'll become the same way with medical professionals.

[Whats-wrong-with-the-truth]

Where were the fed's "air traffic controllers?"

[SW6906]

Care to elaborate?

[SW6906]

Not to mention if the pilot “forgets” to use reversers, or company policy is to use idle reverse, or delays selecting reversers, or floats the transition, or loses an engine, or doesn’t apply max manual braking, or selects minimum autobrake, or, or, or...

[Tzfat]

For the past 50 years, airline pilots have come from both civilian and military in varying percentage, but always around 50%. Ironically, OP was making a case against military pilots if he was correct in his assertion. The captain on the SWA was likely at least 20 years seniority, so if OP was correct, he/she was military. The fact is that that is an impossible and idiotic assertion that a crew on a major airline made an error because of where they were originally trained. A more logical (and yet not necessarily correct) hypophysis is that the culture and training at the AIRLINE they work for CURRENTLY is an issue.

[SumProVita]

Pilot hubby says landing is not the problem....taking off from such a runway would be the difficult thing.

[SumProVita]

It happens more frequently than people realize and most often in clear weather.

[ops33]

My guess, a visual approach, at night. The runway alignment for both airports is the same or very close. 15-20 miles out the pilot sees the beacon for the wrong airport and reports airport in sight. Is cleared for the visual approach and, following the wrong rotating beacon, lands at the wrong airport.

[SW6906]

For US carriers I believe the experience level is higher. For foreign carriers, it is more likely to see someone with little big jet experience. Case in point: A good friend of mine went from flying bush pilot in Alaska to Comair flying commuter turboprops to flying the 787 at a Middle East-based airline in about ten+ years.

[Tzfat]

That was my point. OP was making an idiotic assumption that the pilot must not have been military because this happened today - whereas 20 years ago all the pilots hired by the airlines were military. That was a silly assertion on many levels:

1. Where someone was initially trained makes little differences after they have worked for an airline for a few years. I know, I have been an airline pilot for 34 years - 28 at a major airline.

2. 20 years ago, the pilots hired by the airlines were NOT mostly military. That has not occurred since the end of WWII

3. The captain on this particular flight was not a newby. He/she likely had seniority of AT LEAST 20 years.

There is a common thread in a number of SWA accidents and incidents - and it is not where the pilots come from (military/civilian). SWA has a lot of pilots from many backgrounds - however, after a few years, wherever they came from, they become 100% SWA pilots. That means that the very good, the good, the average, and the marginal pilot all share one thing at that airline: the SWA cockpit culture. That does not mean that this incident directly relates to that or not - but there is a cockpit culture at SWA that is unlike any other major airline in the USA.

[SW6906]

Gotcha. And I agree.

[Laslo Fripp]

Haven’t you ever landed with the wheels up?

“That damn horn distracted me.”

/s

[AFret.]

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.

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I don’t know where you live, but FlightSafety is always looking for good pilots..unlike SWA.

[PUGACHEV]

I had a client last year who was a USAF jet fighter pilot, and was about to retire. We were killing time before a hearing and so I asked, “Well, what are you going to do when you retire? Are you going to work for the airlines?” He reacted with genuine shock as he shot back “Do I look like a bus driver to you?”

[zipper]

I think the controllers probably cleared him to land, on the runway he missed.

[az_gila]

My guess, a visual approach, at night. The runway alignment for both airports is the same or very close. 15-20 miles out the pilot sees the beacon for the wrong airport and reports airport in sight. Is cleared for the visual approach and, following the wrong rotating beacon, lands at the wrong airport.

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It was a night landing, just after 7 pm.

The ground track is interesting though, looks like it was heading directly for PTK (not BRG) before ATC radar lost it.

I wonder if they selected the destination airport in their avionics by name - Branson - rather than by identifier?

http://flightaware.com/live/flight/SWA4013/history/20140112/2145Z/KMDW/KBBG

It also looks like they got a direct clearance from the MAP VOR and bypassed the flight plan DGD VOR.

I bet this is when the avionics directed error occurred...:^)

[zipper]

SWA has a lot of pilots from many backgrounds - however, after a few years, wherever they came from, they become 100% SWA pilots

That's exactly right. There's a 'cowboy' culture at Southwest. Unfortunately this culture could easily lead to a major accident. And also unfortunately, it will take a major accident to change the culture.