Have you ever landed at the wrong airport?

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CessnaSkypilotN7365W
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Re: Have you ever landed at the wrong airport?

Post by CessnaSkypilotN7365W »

Back in April I was flying from KSMX, Santa Maria, to KBFL, Bakersfield Meadows, doing my Cat-5 checkride on PilotEdge. As I was coming up from the south I contacted the tower, got my clearance, and landed, after which I contacted the tower for taxi and they informed me that I was not on his field but rather at L45, Bakersfield Muni. Embarrassed, I apologized for being so stupid and said I would reset and start over. He said there was no rule that said I could not make an intermediate stop and for me to just get back in the air and call him back. I did just that, getting my clearance once again and landed once again, only this time I was on the correct airfield. I passed my checkride, BTW.

So yes, I have landed at the wrong airport.
How embarrassing!

Roger

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jeepinforfun
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Re: Have you ever landed at the wrong airport?

Post by jeepinforfun »

Yes I have but would never admit it. :wink:
Take care, Brett

SWLights/AccuFeel/Cub/Mustang/Skyhawk/Cherokee/Skylane/Comanche/Thunderbolt/Spitfire/FlyingFortress/Stratocruiser

Hook
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Location: Bonham, Texas

Re: Have you ever landed at the wrong airport?

Post by Hook »

jeepinforfun wrote:Yes I have but would never admit it. :wink:
We publish these stories to help other pilots avoid the same mistakes we made. :)

Orlaam's story about Merrill Field helped me today. I was flying there and remembered his problem so I took special care to land at the right airport.

Besides, it makes for interesting reading. :D

Hook

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CessnaSkypilotN7365W
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Re: Have you ever landed at the wrong airport?

Post by CessnaSkypilotN7365W »

Always good for a laugh and there always is a lesson in there somewhere!

Cheers!

Roger

Hook
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Location: Bonham, Texas

Re: Have you ever landed at the wrong airport?

Post by Hook »

I can't believe it. I did it again.

I was flying east along highway 40 to Amarillo, KAMA. I checked the chart carefully. I looked out the window. There was a smaller airport on my right, and a larger one on my left. I needed the larger one.

Some time between planning my descent and entering the pattern and actually executing my plan, I ended up in the pattern for the smaller airport, KTDW. Both airports had runways facing into the wind, and crossing runways. As I was nearing pattern altitude I couldn't tell the exact direction the crossing runway was facing.

Again, the last flight of the day, I was tired, wasn't concentrating very well.

Oh well, I prefer smaller airports anyway. Fuel was cheaper, $4.55 vs $5.59 per gallon of 100LL. I didn't have as far to taxi. I'll bet landing fees were cheaper, and probably waived at the smaller airport because I bought fuel. I would have gotten to bed earlier if I hadn't made this post. :D

<sigh>

Hook

Hook
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Re: Have you ever landed at the wrong airport?

Post by Hook »

The next flight I saw something amusing on the chart.
CAUTION
Do not mistake Sheppard AFB/Wichita Falls Muni for Kickapoo Downtown
If you check skyvector.com for KSPS and KCWC you might think mistaking those two would be almost impossible. SPS is large and north of town, CWC is small and at the south edge of town. But apparently enough people have mistaken it that they thought it was necessary to print the warning.

Makes me feel better about my previous wrong airport landing. :)

I used to wonder why they printed those warnings, which you see many places on the chart. Now, I think I have a pretty good idea.

Hook

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