Continental Express lands at wrong airport

[Les Habitants]

http://www.sulphurdailynews.com/feature ... sday-night


When Southland Field built it's new state of the art T-Hangar here this past summer, it wanted to attract larger planes to the airport. Officials never envisioned having a Continental Connection plane land here though.

Some time after 8 p.m. Wednesday, a Continental Connection flight bound from Houston's George Bush Intercontinental Airport to Lake Charles Regional Airport mistakenly landed at the much smaller Southland Field — a freak occurrence that has happened at least two other times in the last 20 years. According to Sam Larsh, Southland Field Airport Manager, it happened twice in the mid 1990s.

"This is the third time it's happened," Larsh said. "An airline pilot is flying by an instrument flight plan and they are supposed to land on runway 15 in Lake Charles. On a crystal clear night like last night (Wednesday), it's the first runway lights they come upon after being in pitch black between Houston and here.
"It's an easy mistake to make, but it's one they probably should never make," Larsh continued. "It's only eight miles from our airport to Lake Charles Regional with virtually the same coordinates."
According to Larsh, the flight landed some time after 8 p.m., the time when the last employee at Southland Field leaves for the day. Continental Airlines called Larsh at 11:30 p.m. to make him aware of the situation.
Passengers were unloaded and transported to Lake Charles Regional by ground, while the plane remained at Southland Field until a different flight crew can transport it. The plane was still at Southland Field as of 9 a.m. Thursday.
The Southwest Daily News contacted Continental Airlines for a statement. As more information is available, we will update this story.

[Clodhopper]

I may get flamed for this but what the heck:

The flight crew, particularily the PIC, should be terminated immediately for something like this. Continental Express needs to run a risk assessment, figure out why, and adjust accordingly for the future. However; the fundamental basics of the crew's job is Point A to Point B....not Point X somewhere close to B because it looked kind of like B. With today's avionics, heck even 50+ year old avionics and a stopwatch, there is no valid reason why stuff like this continues to happen. Everyone will say "Oh well, it turned out OK in the end, and everyone made it to their destination just a little late". Thats fine, but what if the next time this happens, they mistakenly land at a smaller local airport, and go off the end of a 3,000 ft runway?

I don't pretend to be perfect, and everyone makes mistakes, but this is basic, basic stuff...

Now, if there was some emergency on board, then fine, its understandable. That will be brought to light in the coming days/weeks.

[Les Habitants]

I may get flamed for this but what the heck:

The flight crew, particularily the PIC, should be terminated immediately for something like this. Continental Express needs to run a risk assessment, figure out why, and adjust accordingly for the future. However; the fundamental basics of the crew's job is Point A to Point B....not Point X somewhere close to B because it looked kind of like B. With today's avionics, heck even 50+ year old avionics and a stopwatch, there is no valid reason why stuff like this continues to happen. Everyone will say "Oh well, it turned out OK in the end, and everyone made it to their destination just a little late". Thats fine, but what if the next time this happens, they mistakenly land at a smaller local airport, and go off the end of a 3,000 ft runway?

I don't pretend to be perfect, and everyone makes mistakes, but this is basic, basic stuff...

Now, if there was some emergency on board, then fine, its understandable. That will be brought to light in the coming days/weeks.

Maybe. Consider this.

-Dark
-Low weather
-Pilot never been there before
-Coming in from the West on a North/South oriented runway.

It's possible that they lost situational awareness and didn't glance down at their GPS/FMS to notice they were 8 miles off course.

I'm not an apologist, but I'm just playing devil's advocate out here. You really have to be aware and vigilant out there.

[Clodhopper]

Oh I agree 100%, don't get me wrong. I just hate when they try to find excuses for stuff like this. You can "Swiss-Cheese" it all you want, try to find something to blame, but like I said, its the BASIC job description for a pilot. One airport to another, SPECIFIC, airport.

Maybe they should build big Hollywood-style signs that light up and rotate on top of terminal buildings that have the ICAO airport identifier on them. That would eliminate the chance...

[arctic navigator]

What ever happened to the Air Canada crew that nearly landed in Vernon when they couldn't fly the approach into Kelowna due to the fires back in 2003? I agree there is no excuse for that kind of mistake, especially with the technology available in aircraft now.

[Panama Jack]

I was at AC Jazz a number of years ago and met the guy who accidentally landed in Rimouski instead of Mont Joli with a Dash 8. Experienced, smart guy, ex-military. We were talking about the incident in recurrent when he raised his hand and said "yup, that was me." After reading a bunch of accident/incident reports, you get a feeling that if other guys can pull of seemingly silly errors than so can you.

Yes, the Continental Express crew evidently had poor Situational Awareness and that is a serious matter.

A problem tends to be with the use of Visual Approaches and not backing up the visual approach with other navigational information or inadequate cross check. Going into IAH, this one is hard to swallow since every runway has an ILS and they should have at least tuned and cross check their location relative to the Localizer/Glideslope and DME. Even smaller aerodromes seem to have GPS approaches these days. A few moments to pull out the plates, program some nav aids and cross check can save a lot of embarassment (or worse).

[tsgas]

Just another case of "complacency in the workplace". Companies are run by "bean counters" that think there is money to be made by pushing people and equipment to there limits.

Well just look how well that worked out in Japan in regards to their nucular power plants.
As the saying goes "penny wise and pound foolish".

[Darkwing Duck]

What does this have to do with the price of tea in China? It is the crew's responsibility for situational awareness. The US is littered with hundreds of airports that are in the same vicinity to each other. All the more reason to be on the look out for where you have to touch the rubber to the ground. Also the localizer or ILS freq should be different from other airports in the same vicinity, nes pas? That should of been clue number one, unless they were flying a visual, and opted out of using all that fancy high tech gadgetry.

Oh I admit that I have really had to look for an airport in the middle of the city lights to differentiate where I am in relation to the airfield. But there was the GPS and the other stuff to figure out where it had to be plunked down.

The one thing I can say here was at least there was no noise abatement infractions. (metal hitting other metal at 5000ish').

[tsgas]

What does this have to do with the price of tea in China? It is the crew's responsibility for situational awareness. The US is littered with hundreds of airports that are in the same vicinity to each other. All the more reason to be on the look out for where you have to touch the rubber to the ground. Also the localizer or ILS freq should be different from other airports in the same vicinity, nes pas? That should of been clue number one, unless they were flying a visual, and opted out of using all that fancy high tech gadgetry.

Oh I admit that I have really had to look for an airport in the middle of the city lights to differentiate where I am in relation to the airfield. But there was the GPS and the other stuff to figure out where it had to be plunked down.

The one thing I can say here was at least there was no noise abatement infractions. (metal hitting other metal at 5000ish').

It's about "learning from the mistakes of others" rather than trying to "play armchair pilot" or "monday morning quarterback."
The bean counters/managers are the people responsible for the hiring standards, training programs , operational equipment , as well as the working conditions for the flight crews. If you read up on BUF accident ,you would of discovered that the crew wasn't competent , they were sleep deprived, worked long duty days etc. That's what is refered to "contributing factors" rather then "I"m smarter then them and I never make mistakes" dribble.

[1&2SpooledUp]

Let us all learn from this mistake. Always back up your visual approaches with a GPS way-point. It only takes a second to program the IF or FAF in the box. If you get in the habit of always doing this (day and night) you won't get bitten in the A$$ like this crew did. Fly safe all.

[FICU]

Unless you have flown a lot in the US you have no idea how easy a mistake this can be. Most regional airports have an Air Force base very close by with identical runway alignment. Years ago a Northwest DC-9 landed at Fargo Air Force base rather than the regional airport. The best thing to avoid this is to not accept visual approaches unless you are 100% certain you have the right airport in sight when day VFR and do not accept visual approaches at night.

Remember when a CGAA Learjet with the chief pilot on board landed on a 1/4 mile drag strip a few years ago? It can happen to even the most experienced crews and it will happen again.

[Darkwing Duck]

What does this have to do with the price of tea in China? It is the crew's responsibility for situational awareness. The US is littered with hundreds of airports that are in the same vicinity to each other. All the more reason to be on the look out for where you have to touch the rubber to the ground. Also the localizer or ILS freq should be different from other airports in the same vicinity, nes pas? That should of been clue number one, unless they were flying a visual, and opted out of using all that fancy high tech gadgetry.

Oh I admit that I have really had to look for an airport in the middle of the city lights to differentiate where I am in relation to the airfield. But there was the GPS and the other stuff to figure out where it had to be plunked down.

The one thing I can say here was at least there was no noise abatement infractions. (metal hitting other metal at 5000ish').

It's about "learning from the mistakes of others" rather than trying to "play armchair pilot" or "monday morning quarterback."
The bean counters/managers are the people responsible for the hiring standards, training programs , operational equipment , as well as the working conditions for the flight crews. If you read up on BUF accident ,you would of discovered that the crew wasn't competent , they were sleep deprived, worked long duty days etc. That's what is refered to "contributing factors" rather then "I"m smarter then them and I never make mistakes" dribble.

You cannot blame this on someone who is in an office dictating SOPs, counting beans or workplace environment or anyone else for that matter. There is a reason why there is duty time and it is the pilots responsibility to take such rest when they are off duty. As far as training, that is one of the 1st things you learn on a cross country is to know where your airport is. I'll bet you whatever you want that there was at least a GPS on board that aircraft, so they probably did have decent equipment. And if they didn't well golly gee there Jimmy Joe Bob, Iz is wunder howz all dem peelots got to where they wuz goin befur that thar GPS thingy. Must a been luck an chance. So blow those theories out your tailpipe. I am not playing armchair quarterback or pilot or whatever. It doesn't take a rocket scientest or a trained monkey to figure out that there were two, count them two, pilots in that cockpit. There was 1 controller in the tower directing that flight. Not sure if it was IMC or VMC conditions but how come no one clued into the fact that they were not lined up to the proper runway at the proper airport. And if it was the 1st time into that airport then they should of been more situationaly aware. Cricky, corporate pilots are going into new airports all the time. Do you think they land at the wrong airport? I am sure once or twice it has happened but not regularly They are probably flying the GPS and getting to where their intended destination. If it was this crews 1st time there, I am sure the aircraft itself was there before. Something had to of been preprogrammed into the FMS or GPS to have the waypoints to follow. And even if they were not in the GPS then the crew should of programed it to avoid this.

What about single pilot ops. Alot of pilots fly into remote lakes and strips all the time. They do their homework prior to the flight to make sure they are going to end up where they are supposed to. And quite a few of these guys are low timers just learning the ropes. This blame lies entirely at the flight crew and the controller.

[RogerCheckCopy]

"Ladies and gentlemen this is your Captain speaking. Good news, we are safely on the ground. Bad news, it is the wrong airport"

[5x5]

Interesting - two posters here have commented on weather conditions. One offering possible contributing factors suggests "low weather" and the other, blaming the pilots sys "Not sure if IMC or VMC.."

The original post quotes the article and it says right in it "On a crystal clear night like last night (Wednesday),..."

So in a thread about people making mistakes and being careless while piloting (which IMHO is much more difficult than reading) two mistakes were made over what was a fairly pertinent fact if you want to delve into why the incident occurred.

[sidestick stirrer]

The only pilots who would criticize a situation like this are those who don't have the experience to realize how gradually and subtly these incidents arise.
These pilots would never have heard of Cartierville, or especially that military field situated on the approach radial between LAX and the Fullerton Airport upon which so many aircraft landed that they resorted to painting the name of their airport on the runway in the biggest possible letters. When I accepted a vectored shortcut to Fullerton inside the VOR many years ago, the controller took the time to painstakingly point out that the first runway I would see was not the airport I wanted, despite it looking identical from the air and being less-than a mile from my destination, just like Cartierville was.
Nor would these pilots ever touch down on the wrong parallel, or mistake a plowed taxiway for a runway which is snow-covered, parallel and immediately adjacent.
Gentlemen, this falls into that "there's those who have and those who have yet to" category, like forgetting the gear or running a tank dry. I did the latter to a 747 one night, while I was young enough to still be on probation but that's another story

[Propboy]

$0.02
Management may very well be responsible for inadequate procedures, training programs or scheduling rules; but it's ultimately the pilots' (plural) responsibility to avoid these things.
I fly this plane, for this company, at this base so I know the crew although I haven't yet heard who it was. Some things to note:
Our planes do not have FMS or GPS. There is a GPS receiver included with the EGPWS system required to be on all 121 aircraft here in the states; but it is not tied into anything to make it usable for navigation.
We regularly fly 5-7 legs per day with duty days up to 14 hours. I don't know how long this crew's day had gone.
It is crazy hot down here right now which contributes to fatigue...trust me on this.
It is always humid down here which makes the heat and fatigue worse.
It was night.
Both Airports have a 15/33 runway
Lake Charles tower closes at 10pm. This plane came in after 10pm. Sulphur is a non-towered airport.
I don't know what the ceiling and visibility were that night...but they had to be a least good enough to take a visual.

With that being said:
Procedures are to back up visual approaches with best instrument approach available. (I don't think either airport has a precision approach to 33 so this may not be a factor if the winds favored 33. My charts are at work)
The approach and visual G/S lighting systems are different.
Sulphur is on the west side of a bay lined with very bright chemical plants while Lake Charles is on the east side of this bay.
LCH has two runways, more buildings, and more taxiways. They look nothing alike....during the day.
Regardless of who the CA was; this wasn't their first time going to Lake Charles. If it's the CA I've heard rumored to be the culprit...he's been to Lake Charles more times then you can count both as an FO and a CA.

[Gino Under]

"OFF WITH THEIR HEADS!!!"

When an experienced crew like this lands at the wrong airport on a crystal clear night, you can bet no one is as surprised or as mortified as the crew themselves. What a perfect time to fire their asses? I think NOT. Each of us would have too many unanswered questions and from a safety perspective, inquiring minds want to know.

Here's the good news. No harm was done to life, limb or property. (as I understand it) So it wasn't all bad.

Egos may have been damaged. Some beyond repair. But, to fire the crew would be plainly immature, irresponsible, and wrong. It sends a rather negative message down the safety wires to aircrew everywhere.
Maybe they should present a lecture to their fellow crew members during a future recurrent on how they managed to do it. I bet it will be an interesting story to all in attendance. Some might even squirm.

If you fire these guys for something like this then prosecuting pilots like the Embraer pilots who clipped the GOL 737 over the Amazon can't be far away.
That's not the way we want to go.
Is it?

SOPs aren't bulletproof and don't protect us from every possibility or eventuality.
I'll take embarassment over a jail term any day. Even though I much prefer to avoid either.
Gawd knows I've embarrassed myself in an airplane enough times over my career as to have very little ego left.

Bottom line? They should be penalized but there should be some thought put into the penalty.

Gino Under

[TAWS]

A quick search on flights from Houston to Lake Charles shows 2 possible Continental feeders doing the flight.

1) Colgon
2) Expressjet

Expressjet is the more likely as their sked arrival is around 810pm, and the article says the plane landed "sometime after 8"

I believe they're Air Canada's new option for it's passengers....

[Les Habitants]

A quick search on flights from Houston to Lake Charles shows 2 possible Continental feeders doing the flight.

1) Colgon
2) Expressjet

Expressjet is the more likely as their sked arrival is around 810pm, and the article says the plane landed "sometime after 8"

I believe they're Air Canada's new option for it's passengers....

I believe it was Colgan.

[rigpiggy]

Let us all learn from this mistake. Always back up your visual approaches with a GPS way-point. It only takes a second to program the IF or FAF in the box. If you get in the habit of always doing this (day and night) you won't get bitten in the A$$ like this crew did. Fly safe all.

Several years back had a similar issue, I asked the F/O to set up the approach, he set direct to the airport rather than the approach, I came screaming into the FAF , and saw the airport about 1.5 out "looking in the wrong place, " anyway swiss cheese, GPS on the pedestal with a repeater on hs "no wpt name", complacency, not checking the approach in the box, etc... it was VFR, and in the end was a good learning experience.

[Siddley Hawker]

Eastern landed a DC-9 on 28 at Cartierville some years back instead of 24L in Dorval. No big deal, except they were in the process of tearing up the runway and he taxiied back and took off again and proceeded to Dorval. I seem to remember both the guys up front were fired for that one. Then there was another airline that became known as Been Over At Cartierville for landing on 28 at Cartierville instead of 24R in Dorval.

[Liquid Charlie]

Transair -- American Sault instead of Canadian side -- ironically happens more often than one would expect -- Arnprior instead of Carp -- Central Pat instead of Pickle Lake -- just off the top of my head --

[TheSuit]

Companies are run by "bean counters" that think there is money to be made by pushing people and equipment to there limits.

So that's what happened here?

[coreydotcom]

I believe it was Colgan.

Yup ! http://www.avherald.com/h?article=442aa889&opt=0

[Nark]

Tijauna, Mexico opposed to Brown Field, San Diego.

TAWS:

Jazz managed to run a STOL aircraft off a 10,000 runway. What's your point?
This is a case of pilot error and nothing to do with the company.