Wrong airport -- and 40 feet from a cliff

[dparm]

http://www.forbes.com/sites/grantmartin/...eens-off-cliff/



Only after unloading the plane, did Mr. Schieffer notice the gravity of the situation, noting "we have all deplaned from Southwest 4013, and the mood is somber now that we realized we were 40 feet from the edge of a cliff."

 

[spasm3]

How do they get the plane off the short runway? empty and minimal fuel load?

 

[cjcride]

Sounds like a plan.
Originally Posted By: spasm3
How do they get the plane off the short runway? empty and minimal fuel load?

 

[Quattro Pete]

Some sources now report the jet stopped 300 feet from a cliff.

Still, a big snafu.

 

[MolaKule]

Burning rubber just took on a new meaning

SW 737 Lands at Taney City Airport

Airial View of Airport

 

[ryansride2017]

They say it can be done if the plane is unloaded, but I wouldn't want to be the sorry chap that needs to get that plane out of there!

 

[SwampSurvivor]

Why does this keep happening?

I find myself steadily losing faith in the flight industry.

 

[morepwr]

Originally Posted By: ryansride2017
They say it can be done if the plane is unloaded, but I wouldn't want to be the sorry chap that needs to get that plane out of there!


It should be the guy that put it there!

 

[Win]

This was yesterday?

I was at our second house, about 40 NM west / southwest of Branson.

It was very windy, but visibility was excellent all afternoon and evening.

These runways are probably only about two to three minutes apart in a 737, but one is basically in town, and the other one is more in the middle of nowhere.

I think the PIC will have some difficult explaining to do, but props to them for stuffing a 737 into that downtown airport - that doesn't look easy.

 

[y_p_w]

Originally Posted By: ryansride2017
They say it can be done if the plane is unloaded, but I wouldn't want to be the sorry chap that needs to get that plane out of there!

Shouldn't be that hard. 737-700s take off fairly well loaded from runways 5000 ft long. With no passengers, nothing in the cargo hold, and only two pilots, I think it should be fairly easy to take off from 3700 ft of runway. They're probably going to reposition it at Branson. They probably spend most of that flight positioning it for the runway.

I found a photo of the airport. I think the "cliff" is overlooking US-65.

Here's a Google Street View look at the edge of the runway from US-65.

https://maps.google.com/maps?daddr=M+Gra...=12,268.78,,0,0

I'm not sure if I'd call it a "cliff". It's about 15 feet higher than the freeway.

http://www.ozarksfirst.com/story/southwe...FAUa3ZaP51F3aNA

They say that it's going to take off into the wind, which I understand increases lift and makes it easier to take off.

 

[andyd]

Any landing you walk away from is a good one. You guys can nit pick from there

 

[y_p_w]

Reports are that the plane left without a hitch and was repositioned to Tulsa. The pilots have been grounded pending an investigation.

 

[expat]

Excuse my ignorance, but when an airliner is coming into land, isn't there a conversation like :-

Pilot:
"SW Flight #*** requesting permission to land, what runway"
"Over"

Control tower:
"SW Flight #*** unless you are flying a Cessna may I suggest you try somewhere else" "there is a nice BIG airport to the west of here"
"Over"

 

[Ramblejam]

Originally Posted By: spasm3
How do they get the plane off the short runway? empty and minimal fuel load?


The same way as done here -- http://youtu.be/wi58Ds3Krgw?t=55s

 

[y_p_w]

Originally Posted By: expat
Excuse my ignorance, but when an airliner is coming into land, isn't there a conversation like :-

Pilot:
"SW Flight #*** requesting permission to land, what runway"
"Over"

Control tower:
"SW Flight #*** unless you are flying a Cessna may I suggest you try somewhere else" "there is a nice BIG airport to the west of here"
"Over"

They were in contact with the Branson tower. A few miles is nothing with radio communications. My understanding is that both airports are single runway and about the same orientation. I also understood that most pilots in a similar SNAFU would realize that they're at the wrong airport before landing and abort.

 

[SwampSurvivor]

Seems like the other tower would notice the plane they are talking to, and the plane that just started descent ... is not there ...

 

[RTexasF]

Originally Posted By: Miller88
Seems like the other tower would notice the plane they are talking to, and the plane that just started descent ... is not there ...


I agree. The radar controller on duty should also be on the carpet.

 

[Astro14]

Originally Posted By: Miller88
Why does this keep happening?

I find myself steadily losing faith in the flight industry.


Keep happening? It's happened twice this year, once with a commercial airline, Southwest, and once with a Boeing ferry crew. So, that's once with a commercial flight. 40,000 commercial flights/day in the US. That's roughly 14 million flights/year...and it hasn't happened for several years before that (in the commercial industry)...so, once every 100 million times...and you're losing faith?

Really?

You're certainly letting the media sensationalism replace independent thought and analysis...which is just what they hoped would happen...

 

[Astro14]

Originally Posted By: RTexasF
Originally Posted By: Miller88
Seems like the other tower would notice the plane they are talking to, and the plane that just started descent ... is not there ...


I agree. The radar controller on duty should also be on the carpet.


Probably not.

Once the pilot accepts a visual approach clearance, the pilot alone accepts complete responsibility for that approach, including navigation, traffic separation, wake turbulence and terrain avoidance.

Radar service is automatically terminated when the pilot is told to switch to tower...so, as a practical matter, controllers like to clear pilots for the visual and switch them to tower...it's now 100% on the pilot.

The same applies to Asiana 214...they accepted the visual...so there will likely be no fault found with ATC...