The Dreamliner

Believe it or not pilots mistakenly land at wrong airports quite frequently. Rather its general, commercial, or cargo aviation pilots hold the responsibility of where their aircraft is flying and going to land. On November 20, 2013, a Boeing 747 Dreamliner landed at the wrong airport about 9 miles from its original destination. The aircraft was flying around the world collecting parts for a 787 Dreamliner, when they were arriving at McConnell Air Force Base to retrieve nose pieces, the crew mistakenly landed north of the Air Force Base at Jabara airport. http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20131121/NEWS05/131129952/747-pilots-we-re-in-kansas-somewhere


There are many issues and hazards that are apparent and likely to happen dealing with an issue like this. The Dreamliner was cleared for the approach for 19L to the McConnell Air Force Base and was shooting the approach. By the time ATC informed the aircraft it was 9 miles to the North the Dreamliner already began landing at Jabara airport (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2P6LV-DKMrc). Luckily no one was hurt with an incident like this happening. There could of been other aircraft on the airfield security personal or anything in the way of the Dreamliner's landing, not to mention the runway at Jabara airport is only 6,101 feet long. With that kind of distance the aircraft easily has the capability to run off the runway especially if they are not familiar with the runway distance off hand. At maximum weight this aircraft needs 10,000 feet of runway to take off safely. Engineers worked hard to determine if the aircraft could takeoff safely even though the runway is a third in length of what the Dreamliner needs. After calculations and performance checks were done most of the fuel it used coming from JFK was used and gave the aircraft a respectable amount of weight to takeoff safely from Jabara and arrive at its original destination, McConnell Air Force Base.


With mistakes happening like this it seams to be the identifiable reasoning behind it would be poor crew resource management. Pilots should be familiar with where they are flying and should be aware of surrounding airports along there route, especially close by there destination. Also in most cases pilots would rather fly a visual approach rather than an instrument approach because that's what they like to do, fly. ATC can play significant rolls also because they are aware of there surroundings so additional information when necessary very important. Without the proper teamwork to complete a flight from ATC and the pilots, that is an act of neglagiance and poor CRM. Fortunatly from this mishaps no damages or accidents were made, with this happening more frequently I'm sure the issue will be addressed a little more in depth before innocent lives are put on the line.


Looking at the southwest flight and the pilots landing at the wrong, I believe suspending the pilots were not a bad decision. As being a flight major some things just shouldn't happen having all of those hours in my log book, categorizes you in a way of not to land at wrong airports and trust your equipment and instruments. Just until the investigation is over suspending the pilots seems reasonable, if something tragic were to happen from this mishaps then no lesson would be able to be taught.