Delta A320 lands at air force base instead of destination

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And didn't ATC notice the plane wasn't landing when it was landing?
 
It's surprisingly easy to mistake one airport for another. Rather less of an issue in Oz, where runways are rare, but in the USA, there's no shortage of airfields, many of which are quite large, even if largely out of service. And, as they're exposed to the same conditions, they also tend to have similar alignments.

Top Gun was navy....

This is not anything to do with the TSA, though I'm sure the thought of one of their probes would be a terrifying development.
 
jb747 said:
It's surprisingly easy to mistake one airport for another. Rather less of an issue in Oz, where runways are rare, but in the USA, there's no shortage of airfields, many of which are quite large, even if largely out of service. And, as they're exposed to the same conditions, they also tend to have similar alignments.
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Appreciate from the air the airfields look similar but doesn't ATC not see the plane as it's guided in?!
 
Things like this are common in the US. Come out of the clouds and see an airfield with a similar runway configuration to the one you're looking for a few miles away and think that is the airfield you want.

I assume it tends to happen in the remote areas away from the big airports where there isn't as many local ATC.
 
flychrisfly said:
Appreciate from the air the airfields look similar but doesn't ATC not see the plane as it's guided in?!
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Most of the time, these happen at smaller airfields that may not have any local controllers.

For example, the Canberra Approach controllers are in Melbourne.
 
Himeno said:
Most of the time, these happen at smaller airfields that may not have any local controllers.

For example, the Canberra Approach controllers are in Melbourne.
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Okay, that explains a visual see/no-see scenario but what about the radars?
 
I am happy that take offs = landings ( safe)
 
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flychrisfly said:
Okay, that explains a visual see/no-see scenario but what about the radars?
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What radars? The level of oversight is a lot less than you think. Even if there was any level of radar control, they would have been handed off at about 10 miles to tower. Tower has possibly (but not necessarily) seen them visually out in the distance. The local runway is clear, so they've been cleared to land. The pilots have looked out the window, spotted the wrong runway, and landed on it. Without a clearance, as they aren't talking to the USAF controllers, who aren't, unless they have any of their own traffic, even taking any notice of the field.
 
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jb747 said:
What radars? The level of oversight is a lot less than you think. Even if there was any level of radar control, they would have been handed off at about 10 miles to tower. Tower has possibly (but not necessarily) seen them visually out in the distance. The local runway is clear, so they've been cleared to land. The pilots have looked out the window, spotted the wrong runway, and landed on it. Without a clearance, as they aren't talking to the USAF controllers, who aren't, unless they have any of their own traffic, even taking any notice of the field.
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Wow. I had always assumed that the fields all had (and used) their own radar and so could accurately control their local airspace. Maybe this wasn't true historically but these days...
I'll let my mate who is a nervous flyer know :)
 
Having landed at RAP and flown close enough to Ellsworth, I can sort of understand it. The layout in that area is pretty flat, and if dark depending on the exact approach, it would be somewhat difficult to tell them apart. Also, Ellsworth has a longer runway at least, so having a shorter runway than expected isn't the case. That said, the runways have different headings, 14/32 at RAP vs. 13/31 at Ellsworth, and RAP does have a control tower that is staffed during normal operating hours. But no matter what now, two people are about to spend quite a while in their La-Z-Boys...
 
Just as I was trying to decide if I should fly with Delta or Virgin across the Pacific !

In this case ...I think we should cut the pilot some slack as it was dark when the plane landed 8.42pm and the correct airport Rapid City was ONLY 10 miles away !:)
 
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