Whoops! Southwest plane lands at Taney instead of Branson

KBCraig · January 13, 2014, 08:02:41 AM

http://www.forbes.com/sites/grantmartin/2014/01/12/southwest-airlines-plane-lands-at-wrong-airport-almost-careens-off-cliff/

When the wheels of Scott Schieffer's airplane touched the ground at his destination, something didn't seem right.

"We landed very abruptly with the pilot applying the brakes very hard. We smelled burnt rubber from the stop," he told me privately over Twitter.

The flight, Southwest Airlines LUV +1.3% 4013, which left from Chicago's Midway airport this afternoon was originally scheduled to fly to Dallas with a stop in Branson, Missouri (BKG) but instead, the aircraft touched down at Taney County Airport (PLK), 8.6 miles away from its intermediate stop. According to airportguide.com, PLK's runway is about half the length of BKG's at 3738 feet versus 7140 feet.

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

sanddunerider · January 13, 2014, 10:51:21 AM

this could have turned out so much worse!!

waiting for details as to WHY it happened.

sanddunerider · January 13, 2014, 03:31:54 PM

AND its outta here!!!!..........

Plane took off safe and sound...

Injun Joe · January 13, 2014, 03:42:40 PM

Thank goodness the plane arrived and departed safely! How in tarnation did this happen?

Junior · January 13, 2014, 05:16:38 PM

Heard about this on NPR Radio today. Thought it was funny. Who knows what happened. Somebody not paying attention?

sanddunerider · January 13, 2014, 06:42:05 PM

I have been monitoring the branson radio and springfield TV stations... still no statement on how/why this happend..

Just luck there were no injuries...

qwed94 · January 14, 2014, 12:46:06 AM

any number of things could have happened to cause this to happen. Maybe electrical, maybe mechanical, maybe human error. As Sanddune said. Thank God no injuries

Heck, at least he was close. I mean he might have been going to Branson, and landed in Detroit (or somewhere). Good Job Pilot, you get an "attaboy"

Injun Joe · January 14, 2014, 02:48:46 AM

Quote from: qwed94 on January 14, 2014, 12:46:06 AM
Heck, at least he was close. I mean he might have been going to Branson, and landed in Detroit (or somewhere). Good Job Pilot, you get an "attaboy"

That's right. They could have ended up sleeping with the fishes in the bottom of Lake Taneycomo!

thelarsonsix · January 14, 2014, 07:16:49 PM

I saw this last night. It does happen, similar looking airports without radar. But I thought there was another thread on here a while back about Southwest pulling out of Branson airport?

misskim · January 14, 2014, 07:37:04 PM

Similar thing happened in Wichita in November. Pilot of the Dreamliner was talking to McConnell Air Force Base air traffic control, but landed at a much smaller private airport. It also took off without incident. The pilots were talking to McConnell, saw the smaller airport, assumed it was the right one and landed there. I theorized at the time that probably the pilots thought, "Wichita? How many airports can there be?" and assumed there was only one. In fact, there are at least 4. Three of them are roughly along the same street, including both the intended airport and the one where they landed.

Again, I wonder if the Southwest pilots just assumed Branson only had one airport and landed at the first runway they saw. In both instances, they had to be disregarding their instruments. Just glad in both situations they were able to get the planes out without incident.

biscuitcreek · January 14, 2014, 10:35:46 PM

Quote from: thelarsonsix on January 14, 2014, 07:16:49 PM
I saw this last night. It does happen, similar looking airports without radar. But I thought there was another thread on here a while back about Southwest pulling out of Branson airport?

Southwest isn't pulling out of Branson until June.

Injun Joe · January 14, 2014, 11:53:10 PM

Quote from: misskim on January 14, 2014, 07:37:04 PM
Similar thing happened in Wichita in November. Pilot of the Dreamliner was talking to McConnell Air Force Base air traffic control, but landed at a much smaller private airport. It also took off without incident. The pilots were talking to McConnell, saw the smaller airport, assumed it was the right one and landed there. I theorized at the time that probably the pilots thought, "Wichita? How many airports can there be?" and assumed there was only one. In fact, there are at least 4. Three of them are roughly along the same street, including both the intended airport and the one where they landed.

Again, I wonder if the Southwest pilots just assumed Branson only had one airport and landed at the first runway they saw. In both instances, they had to be disregarding their instruments. Just glad in both situations they were able to get the planes out without incident.

Absolutely. I'd think this would be a fairly serious offense and warrant appropriate discipline. Unless, the instruments malfunctioned, and then this would be slightly less egregious.

Junior · January 15, 2014, 05:12:30 AM

NBC took a flight with a pilot above Branson and a portion was on the evening news last night. From 10 miles out, both airports appear to be virtually side by side. At night, it is plausible that a pilot not paying attention could make the mistake. When they hit the point of no return on the C of O Airport runway, they apparently hit the brakes so hard the tires burned off tread on the pavement. Passengers reported a burning rubber smell. They came, I think, within 500 feet of plunging right onto Highway 65! This, since it has garnered national attention, will result in a few heads being chopped. Thank goodness no injuries or deaths here.

Injun Joe · January 15, 2014, 05:52:51 PM

Hope they get all the right heads.

History Buff · January 15, 2014, 06:08:21 PM

We should all know by now that using Wildfire as a fuel can cause the navigation equipment to go wacky.