# SWA Plane Lands at Wrong Airport **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 13, 2014, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swa-plane-lands-at-wrong-airport/678653 "2014-01-13T13:35:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2014, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swa-plane-lands-at-wrong-airport/678653/21 "2014-01-13T23:31:43Z")
Pilot and copilot placed on paid leave pending investigation: [http://www.cnn.com/2014/01/13/travel/southwest-plane-wrong-airport/index.html?hpt=hp\_t1](http://www.cnn.com/2014/01/13/travel/southwest-plane-wrong-airport/index.html?hpt=hp_t1) ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2014, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swa-plane-lands-at-wrong-airport/678653/22 "2014-01-13T23:40:57Z")
Well, they [took off ok mid-Monday afternoon](http://www.news-leader.com/article/20140113/NEWS01/301130056/NTSB-investigating-Southwest-airport-mix-up-near-Branson) (video in page) – searching it I see the minimum takeoff run for a no-pax no-freight 737-700 quoted as about just how much they used to land in the first place. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2014, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swa-plane-lands-at-wrong-airport/678653/23 "2014-01-14T00:04:53Z")
> [@friedo](#): > > Here’s what I don’t get about this incident, as opposed to the recent one at Jabara. The runways at Branson and Taney aren’t even in line; they’re about 20 degrees apart. If Approach put him on the right heading for Branson, wouldn’t the pilot have been wary about a 20-degree course correction for the runway he landed on? “I guess he wasn’t on the right vector, Victor.” ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2014, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swa-plane-lands-at-wrong-airport/678653/24 "2014-01-14T01:28:17Z")
Don’t you start up with that White Zone shit. ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Panda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ee7513/32.png) [@Darth\_Panda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Panda)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2014, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swa-plane-lands-at-wrong-airport/678653/25 "2014-01-14T01:44:00Z")
> [@Richard\_Pearse](#): > > Emergency slides are dangerous. They are better than burning to death or drowning but worse than waiting patiently on board. That’s fallacious reasoning. You’re assuming that burning to death is worse than being trapped on a tarmac with people that want to go to Branson, Missouri. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2014, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swa-plane-lands-at-wrong-airport/678653/26 "2014-01-14T02:04:52Z")
Can someone post a link? I’ve looked at several news sources and can’t find this control tower audio. > [@kanicbird](#): > > I heard the pilot to control tower audio (you can search for it), IIRC after landing the control tower asked the pilot do you know where you are?, Pilot replies almost laughingly yes, The control tower then says our radar shows you came down at (X) airport, pilot has a oh s#1T moment. ---
**Author:** ![CaveMike](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cavemike/32/16379_2.png) [@CaveMike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaveMike)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2014, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swa-plane-lands-at-wrong-airport/678653/27 "2014-01-14T04:31:11Z")
> [@kanicbird](#): > > I heard the pilot to control tower audio (you can search for it), IIRC after landing the control tower asked the pilot do you know where you are?, Pilot replies almost laughingly yes, The control tower then says our radar shows you came down at (X) airport, pilot has a oh s#1T moment. Just curious, [this](http://www.cnn.com/2014/01/13/travel/southwest-plane-wrong-airport/index.html?hpt=hp_t2) CNN article states that Branson Airport does not have radar. Were you paraphrasing when you said radar? I’m not challenging your quote; just trying to understand the flow of events. If Branson Airport had radar, I would think that air traffic control would object when the pilot requested to land, but was not showing up on radar. However, if Branson Airport does not have radar it is all pretty straight-forward: The pilots see Graham Clark Downtown Airport, radio to Branson Airport to request to land, air traffic control doesn’t know where the plane is at so it gives the ok. Graham Clark Downtown Airport doesn’t have a tower and doesn’t have a chance to object. The pilots do a visual landing so they don’t realize they made a mistake until they radio to Branson Airport and the tower there says “I don’t see you on the runway”. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2014, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swa-plane-lands-at-wrong-airport/678653/28 "2014-01-14T05:07:52Z")
To reduce the plane’s weight enough for it to do the short take-off, they had to pump the plane full of helium. Indeed, they needed to maximize the amount of helium to get the job done, so they pumped the passenger and baggage compartments full of liquid helium. The aircraft was then able to do a vertical take-off. As the helium evaporated, the plane slowly settled down, thus doing a vertical landing as well – by which time, they managed to float it over to the correct airport. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2014, 8:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swa-plane-lands-at-wrong-airport/678653/29 "2014-01-14T08:04:54Z")
> [@kanicbird](#): > > I heard the pilot to control tower audio (you can search for it), IIRC after landing the control tower asked the pilot do you know where you are?, Pilot replies almost laughingly yes, The control tower then says our radar shows you came down at (X) airport, pilot has a oh s#1T moment. holy moly!!! he didn’t know he landed at the wrong airport. WOW! ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2014, 8:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swa-plane-lands-at-wrong-airport/678653/30 "2014-01-14T08:09:56Z")
> [@Richard\_Pearse](#): > > Emergency slides are dangerous. They are better than burning to death or drowning but worse than waiting patiently on board. And very expensive requiring replacement before taking off. Cheaper to serve a round of drinks and wait for someone to dust off an old mobile stair cart. Do theses things have license plates? ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2014, 8:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swa-plane-lands-at-wrong-airport/678653/31 "2014-01-14T08:16:53Z")
checked the pictures, it was a non-motorized set of stairs. They would have had to put it on the back of a truck or flatbed. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2014, 8:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swa-plane-lands-at-wrong-airport/678653/32 "2014-01-14T08:38:58Z")
> [@CaveMike](#): > > Just curious, [this](http://www.cnn.com/2014/01/13/travel/southwest-plane-wrong-airport/index.html?hpt=hp_t2) CNN article states that Branson Airport does not have radar. Were you paraphrasing when you said radar? I’m not challenging your quote; just trying to understand the flow of events. > > If Branson Airport had radar, I would think that air traffic control would object when the pilot requested to land, but was not showing up on radar. > > However, if Branson Airport does not have radar it is all pretty straight-forward: The pilots see Graham Clark Downtown Airport, radio to Branson Airport to request to land, air traffic control doesn’t know where the plane is at so it gives the ok. Graham Clark Downtown Airport doesn’t have a tower and doesn’t have a chance to object. The pilots do a visual landing so they don’t realize they made a mistake until they radio to Branson Airport and the tower there says “I don’t see you on the runway”. They would probably have a radar feed from SGF (Springfield). Not sure who is doing the approach control but that isn’t necessarily the airport the plane is landing at. ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Pearse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/richard_pearse/32/13144_2.png) [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2014, 10:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swa-plane-lands-at-wrong-airport/678653/33 "2014-01-14T10:50:30Z")
There is only one ILS at Branson and it is not for the runway they would have been using, so the approach would’ve been a pure visual with no instrument indication that they weren’t lined up on the correct runway. Both aerodromes have GPS approaches but you’d tend not to use them unless you really have to as they add several minutes to your flight time. ---
**Author:** ![Edward\_The\_Head](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ce73a5/32.png) [@Edward\_The\_Head](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Edward_The_Head)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2014, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swa-plane-lands-at-wrong-airport/678653/34 "2014-01-14T14:14:05Z")
> [@Richard\_Pearse](#): > > There is only one ILS at Branson and it is not for the runway they would have been using, so the approach would’ve been a pure visual with no instrument indication that they weren’t lined up on the correct runway. Both aerodromes have GPS approaches but you’d tend not to use them unless you really have to as they add several minutes to your flight time. I was under the impression, and I’ll have to ask around, that Southwest has been requesting GPS approaches at the airports they fly to as it’s supposed to save them fuel. I do know that a lot more GPS and RNPs approaches are created then any other type. It has been a few years since I’ve worked in the IAP section of charting, but I’m surprised that there’s been no talk of this around the office. When the last plane landed at the wrong airport everyone was pulling charts and wondering what went wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2014, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swa-plane-lands-at-wrong-airport/678653/35 "2014-01-14T14:29:12Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > checked the pictures, it was a non-motorized set of stairs. They would have had to put it on the back of a truck or flatbed. And make sure there were no low bridges along the way. ---
**Author:** ![lost4life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c4cdca/32.png) [@lost4life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lost4life)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2014, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swa-plane-lands-at-wrong-airport/678653/36 "2014-01-14T15:03:08Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > And very expensive requiring replacement before taking off. Cheaper to serve a round of drinks and wait for someone to dust off an old mobile stair cart. Do theses things have license plates? They do on Arrested Development. You will get hop ons. When you say the slides are expensive, I recall reading they are in the $20,000 range. Is that correct? ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Pearse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/richard_pearse/32/13144_2.png) [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2014, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swa-plane-lands-at-wrong-airport/678653/37 "2014-01-14T15:10:43Z")
> [@Edward\_The\_Head](#): > > I was under the impression, and I’ll have to ask around, that Southwest has been requesting GPS approaches at the airports they fly to as it’s supposed to save them fuel. I do know that a lot more GPS and RNPs approaches are created then any other type. Well they are cheap to make because they don’t require any installation so they are a popular choice for new approaches. They can be more efficient than other instrument approaches because they aren’t bound by having a physical navaid on the ground, so you have fewer constraints on how you design the tracking. That doesn’t make them the most efficient approach compared to a visual approach though. Any instrument approach will typically track via at least a 10NM final for the runway. For a runway that is already aligned with your inbound track, that doesn’t matter, it won’t cost you time or fuel to fly the approach or to at least have it as a back up to a visual approach. But for a runway that is the reciprocal to your inbound track you are adding at least 20 NM to your track miles and several hundred kg of fuel to your burn. If you can, it is far more efficient to just join the circuit on a downwind the way light aircraft do. If you do that though, you won’t get as much situational awareness help from your instruments, not that you should need it. ---
**Author:** ![Isilder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/cc9497/32.png) [@Isilder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isilder)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2014, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swa-plane-lands-at-wrong-airport/678653/38 "2014-01-15T04:09:17Z")
And to be fair, they did land at the airport that is closer to the town of Branson. And the airport they wanted to be at is quite simple… runway and building. perhaps they should use lights to display a code for runway length. A single letter would do . Actually they should have lights to display the big X as in “Do not use ! Do NOT approach” and they turn it off when there is clearance to land given … the other end has a light to say “do not land from this direction” still… There could be two categories one X, except in emergencies . two X’s. NEVER ( the runway is simply unusable. eg damaged, has equipment on it… etc ) ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Feldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lord_feldon/32/341_2.png) [@Lord\_Feldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Feldon)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2014, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swa-plane-lands-at-wrong-airport/678653/39 "2014-01-15T04:23:08Z")
> [@Isilder](#): > > Actually they should have lights to display the big X as in “Do not use ! Do NOT approach” > and they turn it off when there is clearance to land given … the other end has a light to say “do not land from this direction” still… That wouldn’t work at uncontrolled airports like this one. Nobody gives clearance to land. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2014, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swa-plane-lands-at-wrong-airport/678653/40 "2014-01-15T05:12:21Z")
considering most commercial aircraft have equipment that will deliver them to within 10 cm of where they want to land I’m not seeing the need to reinvent any wheels. Attention employees: use all the little dialee things in the cockpit that you’re suppose to use. That is all. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swa-plane-lands-at-wrong-airport/678653.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swa-plane-lands-at-wrong-airport/678653.md?page=3)