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Whoops-747 Dreamlifter lands at Jabara KS

B52gator

By B52gator
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B52gator Flight Lead

B52gator

Posted
Posted

https://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/11/21/boeing-747-mistakenly-lands-at-small-kansas-airport/?intcmp=latestnews

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"A Boeing 747 jumbo jet mistakenly landed a tiny airport in Kansas late Wednesday, raising questions about how the pilots got off course.

The jet landed at Col. James Jabara Airport, about 8 miles north of its intended target, the McConnell Air Force Base in Wichita. Jabara's runway is just 6,101 feet long, much shorter than is ideal for an aircraft of that size.

Roger Xanders, chief of the Wichita Airport Authority's police and fire department, told KMBC-TV that nonetheless the plane should be able to take off around noon Thursday. The plane, operated by Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings, has been turned around by a tug to prepare for departure, said Brad Christopher of the Wichita Airport Authority.

"We've been in contact with Atlas company headquarters in New York. They've assured us they've run all the engineering calculation and performance and the aircraft is very safe for a normal departure at its current weight and conditions here," Christopher said.

Atlas Air spokeswoman Bonnie Rodney did not immediately return early Thursday calls and an email from The Associated Press seeking comment. Boeing spokesman Marc Birtel said he could not immediately provide any information on how or why the jumbo jet landed at Jabara.

The two-person crew was not injured and the airplane and airport property were not damaged, Christopher said.

The modified 747, one of a fleet of four that hauls parts around the world for the production of the Dreamliner, was bound for McConnell because it is adjacent to Boeing supplier Spirit AeroSystems, Birtel said. Spirit makes the forward section or nose area of the Dreamliner's fuselage.

These jets, which the company refers to as Dreamlifters, are crucial to the Dreamliner's construction. Boeing is using a global network of suppliers to develop and build most of the new plane's parts in locations as far away as Germany, Japan and Sweden. Boeing says the Dreamlifter cuts delivery time down to one day from as many as 30 days.

The final aircraft is assembled at plants outside Seattle and in North Charleston, S.C.

It is not the first incident of a large aircraft landing at an airport ill equipped to accommodate a plane of that size.

In July last year, a cargo plane bound for MacDill Air Force base in Tampa, Fla., landed without incident at the small Peter O. Knight Airport nearby. An investigation blamed confusion identifying airports in the area and base officials introduced an updated landing procedure to mitigate future problems."

HerkFE Gray Beard

HerkFE

Posted
Posted

Jokes about this being a former C-17 crew or arguing over whether an FE would have saved the day in 3-2-1...

  • Upvote 4
Rusty Pipes Flight Lead

Rusty Pipes

Posted
Posted

I'll tip my hat to you guys at McConnell... I've been up there a few times in a few different airframes and between the 50 non-altitude reporting bug smashers squawking 1200 filling up my TCAS and the 25 different airfields within about 10 miles of the Base I'm amazed this doesn't happen more often! I've had several co-pilots call visual saying they have the field in sight and then start heading to the wrong airport... and that is even with the magic still pointing them to the correct one!

  • Upvote 1
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Bender Flight Lead

Bender

Posted
Posted

Same. I listened to the audio and was in tears I was laughing so hard.

2. There was just so much hilarity there I could barely handle it. If they ask nicely, maybe the tower controller will drive up there and fly the plane over for them himself.

Simply amazing...

Bendy

LJDRVR Flight Lead

LJDRVR

Posted
Posted

Jokes about this being a former C-17 crew or arguing over whether an FE would have saved the day in 3-2-1...

Yeah, having an FE would have saved everything, just like these guys at Troutdale:

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sky_king Gray Beard

sky_king

Posted
Posted

Just glossing over the fact that he didn't even land at the closest incorrect airport, he made approximately 68 errors in his description and read backs. I hope the CVR tapes get released. This is an excellent case study of CRM and loss of SA.

Surf70 SNAP

Surf70

Posted
Posted

Yep! Should have had an FE... And I bet an FE did the TOLD at Boeing to get the thing off the ground and out of there as well since the computer was saying "No Joy!"... :thumbsup:

Bergman Gray Beard

Bergman

Posted
Posted

Good Lord! "Giant 4241, confirm you know what airport you are at now?"

$20 says they had to turn on their cell phones and use Google Maps to find out where they really were.

UFB.

  • Upvote 3
HerkFE Gray Beard

HerkFE

Posted
Posted

They better brush up on their fatigue defense...

They sounded way too alert to pull that one off. Moral of the story, If you F it up, slur your words and sound groggy. Just sounding stupid probably isn't enough.

  • Upvote 1
C-21.Pilot Flight Lead

C-21.Pilot

Posted
Posted (edited)

....he made approximately 68 errors in his description and read backs.....

Had he made approx 1 more error, it would have *sucked*....

Edited by C-21.Pilot
  • Upvote 1
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JarheadBoom Gray Beard

JarheadBoom

Posted
Posted

Once?

I could only listen to the first 3 minutes or so (before I wanted to bang my head against a solid object), and I heard at least 4 times where he was struggling with the callsign.

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