Don't Let it Happen to You

Ever landed on the wrong runway, or at the wrong airport?  Though rare, it does happen.  But don't let it happen to you!

The possibility of landing on the wrong runway has been in the media quite a bit lately, after Southwest 4013 landed at the wrong airport.  When I first heard the news I couldn't believe it.  But after thinking about it for a few days, I realized that their mistakes are actually a lot easier to make than it seems.   In no way do I think that what they did was okay, but I want you to understand how it happened so you can be cautious and avoid the same mistakes.

Southwest's flightpath

Both Southwest pilots were pretty experienced; the Captain has been with Southwest for 15 years and the First Officer for 12 years.  However, the captain had never flown to that airport and the FO had flown there only once.  Had one of the pilots been more familiar with the airport, I'm sure this would have been prevented.  Familiarity is everything...

Airports with Similar Runway Layouts:

I often fly into Carlsbad-Palomar airport, KCRQ.  Oceanside airport, KOKB, is only 6 miles away and has the exact same runways, 6/24.   Here's a photo that shows how close the fields are:

The Southwest pilots were supposed to land at Branson, KBBG, but landed at Clark County airport,   KPLK.  These runways are only 7 miles apart; BBG has only runways 14/32 and PLK has only runways 12/30.  Not exactly the same, but a very similar setup- close enough to get confused if not paying close attention.

Because I was lucky enough to fly with experienced captains who had flown to Carlsbad a bazillion time in the beginning, they warned me of Oceanside airport and how it could easily be mistaken for Carlsbad.  Sadly, these Southwest pilots did not have this luxury.

Different Runway Lighting:
I have noticed through my few years of flying, that many major airports typically use dimmer lighting than do GA airports.  I know when I was flying GA it was HIRL (high intensity runway lights) or bust!  Even if MIRL (medium) and LIRL (low) were available, I never used them...why would I want dim lights?   I actually remember flying to a small airport in Idaho with a student once- the airport had only LIRL and it took us forever to find that runway.  Let's face it, dim runway lighting is much more difficult to see at night than bright runway lighting.

I'm not sure the setting of they runway lights at the time of Southwest's landing, but it wouldn't surprise me if Clark County had the runway lights at a higher intensity than Branson did.  If the lights were brighter, Clark County would have been much easier to spot.

A Few More Mistakes:
It is possible that these pilots did not brief the approach very well.  I know the company I work for  requires that we do a thorough brief even if we are planning a visual approach.  A few of the items we brief are the runway we expect to land on, any approaches we could use to back it up with, elevation, PAPI/VASI, where we plan to exit when we do touchdown (whether that be to the right or left), final approach heading, etc.  Had these pilots done (and remembered the items) a thorough brief, they would have noted the missing PAPI on the left side of the runway, the difference in runway heading, and the difference in airport layout.

The pilots didn't check their heading on final.  Had they done so they would have noticed that they were 26 degrees off on their magnetic heading.  One thing I do to mitigate landing on the wrong runway is always back it up with an approach.  If there is no approach, I create a pseudo localizer for the runway with the equipment we have onboard.

For Southwest, there was no localizer for runway 14, but there was a GPS approach.  If it is available, and the equipment is onboard the aircraft, why not use it?  But who knows- maybe the pilots had put the approach in, but just forgot to check and make sure they were actually on course.

There were three sets of eyes in the cockpit and nobody noticed another airport.  Interesting...

Double-Check Yourself 
Don't allow yourself to fall into the traps that Southwest and others have fell into.  Back up visual approaches, verify final approach headings, do a thorough brief, and always back-up the pilot you are flying with.  If you are the non-flying pilot, you are still responsible, so help each other out.  Be safe!