FlyerTalk Forums - View Single Post - [Takeoff Successful!] Large Cargo Plane Mistakenly Lands at Tiny Airport
Old Nov 21, 2013, 4:49 am
  #6  
JerryFF
 
Join Date: Mar 2000
Location: Santa Cruz, CA USA
Programs: AA, UA, WN, HH, Marriott
Posts: 7,290
Originally Posted by WindowSeat123
The story says we don't know "why" he landed at the incorrect airport. That's the thing. There must be something missing from this story. It just doesn't make sense for a modern jetliner with fully qualified and professional pilots to simply "get lost" and land at a wrong airport by "mistake".

Unless there is an issue with the plane (i.e. malfunctioning flight instruments) or some other emergency situation, commercial pilots do not "take the wrong turn", so-to-speak. All parts of a commercial flight is careful planned and vetted by the flight dispatcher and approved by the relevant authorities before the flight takes off. Combined with modern navigational aids (i.e. VORs, GPS), transponder, CPDLC (Controller–pilot data link communications) and radio communication, getting "lost" is not something that is supposed to happen in this day and age.
It happens more often than you might think --

http://www.thirdamendment.com/wrongway.html

http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/video.../1749015695001
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