Embarrassed Again

welsh44

Member
Aug 21, 2002
22
0
This is worriesome. -slw-









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Posted on Thu, Jan. 15, 2004



Plane lands at wrong airport
Passengers bound for State College go to Philipsburg
By Anne Danahy
[email protected]

Patience was probably the most-needed virtue for passengers aboard a plane coming from Pittsburgh and bound for University Park Airport Friday.

The daily flight on a US Airways affiliate Shuttle America plane ended up landing at Mid-State Regional Airport in Rush Township -- close, but not the chosen destination.

"When the pilot walked in, he said, 'Here's one for the news,' " said Joanne Shields, business secretary at Mid-State Airport, which is near Philipsburg.

US Airways spokeswoman Amy Kudwa said the company did transport passengers from Philipsburg to State College on Friday. She referred all other questions to Shuttle America, which she said is one of six affiliated carriers in the US Airways Express network.

Despite several attempts over two days, no one from Shuttle America would comment on the flight, which is a daily route from Pittsburgh to State College.

A Federal Aviation Administration spokesman said the agency would not receive a report on such an incident.

Shields said her understanding is the pilot wasn't familiar with the area and, when landing, somehow ended up flying in to Mid-State.

That airport handles mostly private planes, not commuter flights, so an unannounced landing is not unheard of, Shields said.

But not having radio communication was a little strange.

Shields said she and her husband were working and when they saw the plane pull in they tried to contact the pilot on the radio to see if assistance was needed.

But he must have had his radio set to a different frequency.

"We waited for (the pilot) to come in and see what they needed. They wouldn't allow any passengers to get off because of security reasons," Shields said.

The passengers had to wait on the plane at least an hour until a van could be dispatched from University Park to retrieve the passengers.

Eight passengers were on board, Shields said.

Shields said the pilot apparently made a phone call from the office to a flight service center.

"They faxed him page after page of things. I guess he had to report it as an incident of some sort," Shields said.


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Anne Danahy can be reached at 231-4648.
 
Since this is my back yard (literally!), I feel I have to weigh in on this.

First and foremost. No one was injured. Inconvenienced, yes, but not injured. And for this I am extremely thankful.

My understanding is that the flight crew mistook Mid-State airport for University Park airport. This kind of thing is typical for rookie general aviation pilots. And this is not that difficult to do if you don’t know the central PA area. Is it excusable for two commercially licensed pilots? NO! This was very bad planning and even worse CRM (crew resource management). It is my opinion that if the FAA does not ground this crew for 90 days to think about why they didn’t do their pre-flight orientation properly then Shuttle America should. This was their first trip to SCE and they should have familiarized themselves with the area. State College is not a controlled field. There is no tower. If they were lost or had some misgivings about the airport’s identity, they should have tried to raise some of the other traffic on the field’s frequency. ACA, ComAir, and Mesaba also serve SCE with similar flight schedules. Perhaps they could have gotten assistance from another flight in the area. If not they should have climbed back to 050 and contacted New York Center for help…

PSB Mid-State airport is located in Philipsburg roughly 15 miles (as the crow flies, about 40 miles as the bus drives) from SCE (aka UNV) University Park Airport in State College. Both airports have two crossing runways 06/24 and 16/34. From the air they look very similar and they are very close to each other. The main reason I feel strongly that this flight crew should be grounded is that I believe PSB is a CLOSED airport. The airport was closed in the early 90’s and if it reopened, I never heard about it (and I live only 15 miles away!) To my knowledge the only thing out at Mid-State now is a company who makes tarps or mattresses or something. And, if I’m not mistaken, there are rather large white X’s painted on the ends of all runways to show pilots that this field is NOT to be used. This was an afternoon flight (VFR). If the pilots followed basic VFR rules for a non-controlled field and flew a crossing pattern at a safe altitude over the middle of the runway before making their approach, I don’t see how they could have missed the big white X’s.

Hopefully this unfortunate incident will sculpt both of them into better pilots. The golden rule to follow here is the six P’s (Prior Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance). Many undesirable hours of boring planning have been known to prevent a few seconds of shear terror…

UsPerfEngr
 
The big difference is that KUNV rwy-24 has an ILS approach. Giveaway number 1.

The bigger one in my mind is the drastic difference in radial/distance that both fields are from the PSB VORTAC. Giveaway number 2.

I had the chance today (literally) to fly a Cirrus SR22 from PNE to BTP and back. But between the navs (garmin 430s) and the MFD (avidyne), I'd have to been blind, deaf, and dumb to land at the wrong place. OTOH, it strikes me that I might have had better avionics than the Saab. Never been in a Saab cockpit.

But, if that fails, there is always VFR:

Here is PSB:
 
ClueByFour said:
I'd have to been blind, deaf, and dumb to land at the wrong place.
ClueByFour,

Certain 'sins' in aviation while forgivable, are unforgettable. Feel free to add some more to this list. Regards, fly safe.

1) Landing at the wrong airport
2) Landing with the gear retracted
3) Landing on the wrong runway
4) Taking off on the wrong runway
5) Pulling into the wrong gate
6) Taking off with the gear pins in
7) Landing beyond the TDZ and running off the runway
8) Hitting another airplane while taxiing
9) Powerback then stepping on brakes while still moving (ouch)
10) Taking off without PDC, or takeoff clearance
11) Landing without clearance
12) Cutting a corner too tight even with a fillet, gear in the mud
13) TAKING OFF OVER MY HOUSE AND NOT REDUCING TO CLB POWER IN A TIMELY MANOR

Best wishes to all, lets stay absolutely safe.

DENVER, CO
 
Theres another thread futher down about this too, under Shuttle America lands at wrong airport...

Definatly embarrassing.
 

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