Published on : Tuesday, March 25, 2014
The audio recordings released from Southern Airlines jet that landed in the wrong airport in Missouri in January show the miscommunication between the pilot and the controllers at the Branson Airport.
The pilot said that he assumed that he was not landing at the desired airport, as one of the pilots radioed to controllers at Branson Airport, the Boeing 737′s intended destination.
The controllers were unsure whether the 4013 plane had landed. But the pilot said that he had. The controllers checked with the other traffic facilities that were unsure about whether the plane had landed.
The pilot said that they had landed at the wrong airport.
The plane from Chicago actually landed several miles away at a municipal airport in Taney County, which doesn’t have a control tower
The Taney County airport’s runway is 3,738 feet, about half the length of the Branson runway, which is 7,140 feet. That forced pilots to act fast and brake hard when the aircraft with 129 passengers and crew touched down.
No one was injured and the jet took off the next day.
The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the incident. Southwest said in a statement that the pilot is on a paid leave until full investigations are revealed.
Tags: boeing 737, Branson Airport, Southern Airlines jet, Taney County airport
|
||