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Oops! Boeing cargo jet lands at wrong Wichita airport


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All of the above, plus what happened at SFO a few months ago, just proves that no matter how sophisticated the machine, if the human screws up, you get a bad outcome. Machines are great, but human beings still have to pull their heads out of their... well, you know.

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Makes for an interesting diorama possibility!

More discussion about the real event will probably go on (and on) over at airliners.net. There have been stories appearing in some aviation magazines and on web sites lately about whether pilots have become too dependent on their electronics for flight and navigation. I'm not saying that's the case for this one. Just brought it to mind.

There are three runways in close proximity and similar orientation in the immediate area. It's happened before in Wichita and a few other places.

Sad to read that the police chased off most onlookers, even those a considerable distance off the airport.

Hope I haven't created a controversial post Steve. It was fun to watch after knowing the departure was do-able.

Cheers

Rick in Maine

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Local news here said a new crew was being flown in for the flight to McConnell. Here's some of the pictures I took today. I apologize for the quality...my DSLR was stolen almost two months ago so I've had to rely on my point and shoot.

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Here is just a small portion of the crowds that turned out:

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Video shortly...

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Good to see he was able to take off without problems. Is it me or do the engines look really small on that jet. I know they're the right ones, it's just the size of the 747 Dreamlifter that makes them look smaller than they are.

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I remember back when I had just returned from S.E.A. and signed into my flying squadron. While I was getting acquainted with some of the people, we were all called into the briefing room for a report of a C-5 crash. Two aircraft, a small civilian prop job and a somewhat larger C-5A were heading in for a landing, Both were going in the same direction, and same altitude. Unfortunately, the civilians landed on the base and the C-5 landed on the local airport. Big surprise for the civilians as they got an unexpected view of several military aircraft and being taken out of their blocked off plane by the Security Police. Even bigger surprise for the crew of the C-5 as they quickly ran out of runway and ended up plowing up a field as their aircraft came apart. They had a really great picture of a wing sitting with its trailing edge pointed toward the sky and the rest arranged here and there on the ground. I think they said that both towers had control of the wrong aircraft but to the it looked like they had the right aircraft.

A couple years later I was back with the police when a civilian aircraft landed on the base and actually taxied into the C-130 area as it was being chased by the follow me truck. He didn't get too far into the area, but it's about a half mile or so from the transit ramp to the C-130s. I'm just not sure which runway turn off point he took to get there.

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Three airfields all within a very short distance of one another all with similar runway headings, is this the first time something like this has happened at McConnell?

I don't know if it's happened before at McConnell, but from this page: http://www.thirdamendment.com/wrongway.html it's hardly a rare event overall.

I wonder how this could have happened. Are ILS signals coded, so the crew can see that the signal actually is from the airport or the rynway they want to fly to? Or did they do a visual landing?

They were landing Rwy 19L - the only ILS is for Rwy 19R

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I don't know if it's happened before at McConnell, but from this page: http://www.thirdamendment.com/wrongway.html it's hardly a rare event overall.

They were landing Rwy 19L - the only ILS is for Rwy 19R

According to the ATC audio (Thanks for posting, RedIndian!), they were doing the "RNAV GPS Runway 19L", and not an ILS approach. The approach they said they were doing on Tower frequency would be done by the FMS, by selecting the correct airport, then the RNAV approach (area navigation) GPS approach to 19L. If they had selected the correct approach, AND followed the path given by the FMS, they could not have mistaken one airport for another. That's why I posted earlier that the error was very likely not following the indications properly, or having selected the wrong airport to begin with in the FMS.

ALF

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I was stationed at McConnell for over 6 years and I do see how this mistake was made. I've had to redirect young pilots on more than my fair share of night missions.

Jabarra is nearly directly in line with McConnell from the north. Although MAFB has TWO runways, only the eastern one is in service and lit up. Under IMC conditions (GPS approach), they must have had just enough visibility to cheat and drop in. Probably being empty on the way to pick up a 787 section, they had no problems landing.

Like Peter O'Knight airport, the Jabarra FBO has a great story to tell.

-Jeff

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Were you hiding from the popo in the trees? That's a great angle though. Darn thing looks like it goes straight up with plenty of runway to spare.

Haha, yes I was in the trees but not hiding from the police. My last picture of the cars on the road shows just a small portion of the road and how busy it was. This was far enough away that there were no cops. I think the part that is getting left out of the story is the cops were chasing the gawkers that slowed down on the highway or the main road to prevent accidents. I know there was at least one accident caused by gawkers.

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