All
← Back to Squawk list
Southwest pilots tell NTSB they were confused by airport lights
The pilots of the Southwest Airlines 737 plane that landed at the wrong airport in Missouri this week told investigators they mistook the bright runway lights of a smaller airport for their intended destination at Branson Airport, the National Transportation Safety Board said on Friday Jan. 17. (airguideonline.com) More...
Sort type: [Top] [Newest]
Did they not realize before they could have safely aborted?
Apparently not. LOL
Right guys, cannot understand why they did not use their FMS ??
Good on these guys for telling it like it, hope they be ok and back in the air soon
I doubt they'll be back in the air soon. They had their approach loaded in the FMS for a reason. In this day of multiple fields and them being at an unfamiliar destination, WHY did they not use it. Yeah, lights at that field were probably on due to another aircraft in the area and probably turned them up, but all of that is very legal and not out of the norm. A GA pilot using that airport would be about as much surprised to see that 737 coming in there as those two were landing it. We have been luck on this big plane, short field stuff one of these days. Luck may run out next time. There are a lot of GA fields in vicinity of majors that are way less than 3 grand.
Not much good other than they didn't kill anyone due to there mistake. In aviation mistakes can kill very easily. They had many ways to tell they were not at the right airport. These days glass cockpits are great as they show you where you are at all times if used right. No these pilots need to be TSA agents or something rather than making mistakes that could kill.
