NTSB Issues Safety Alert following Two Wrong Airport Landings
The agency issued an alert following two incidents in which airplanes landed at the wrong airports in November 2013 and January 2014.
The National Transportation Safety Board has issued an alert as a result of two recent incidents involving airplanes landing at the wrong airports. Both incidents involved transport aircraft.
The safety alert that was issued, "Landing at the Wrong Airport," reminded pilots of the vigilance required to avoid such potentially catastrophic mistakes. It outlines five measures pilots can take to avoid a wrong airport landing. The first incident involved a Southwest Airlines 737 that landed at the wrong airport in Branson, Mo., in January 2014; the second incident involved a Boeing 747 cargo plane landing on a runway different from its intended runway 12 miles away in November 2013.
According to the NTSB news release, "Wrong airport landings present serious safety hazards, including the risk of overrun because a misidentified runway may not be long enough to accommodate the landing airplane, and the risk of collision with other aircraft due to an unexpected incursion into the runway environment."