Whoops!
09/07/16 05:15
I grew up in a family of pilots and learned to fly as a teenager. However, my salary and the costs of general aviation haven’t always lined up during my career, so I made the decision to stop flying as an active pilot several years ago. Flying is a skill that demands constant practice and I simply wasn’t flying enough to keep up. These days I’m a bit of an airport bum and I often get to ride with other pilots when they fly. Back when we lived in North Dakota, I kept up with my flying by renting an airplane from our local airport operator. They were really easy people to work with and very helpful. One day, when I was hanging out at the airport, I talked about the possibility of renting the airplane for a trip to Rapid City. The owner of the airplane was eager to rent the plane, but said, in no uncertain terms, “There’s only one thing about flying to Rapid City. If you land that airplane at the Air Force Base, you just bought it. You’ll pay for the whole airplane.”
As it turned out, weather prevented my flight on that particular trip. In subsequent years I did fly into Rapid City in another airplane without incident. Most of my flying has been done in Montana, North Dakota and Idaho. There are large military operations areas in all three states and I leaned about paying careful attention to your location and the rules of flying in those areas. One time, when flying in North Dakota in the same rented airplane above a military operations area, air traffic control advised me that a B-52 would be passing below me a mille to the left of my flight path. Even at that distance, from my vantage point in my little two-seated Cessna, that airplane appeared Huge. I was just as glad that ATC had advised the B52 of my presence as I was that they told me about it. I must have just been a tiny speck from their point of view.
All of this is an introduction to an event that occurred Thursday night here in Rapid City. For the second time in the years I have lived in Rapid City a commercial airliner, bound for Rapid City Regional Airport, landed at Ellsworth Air Force Base. There were 130 passengers on flight 2845 from Minneapolis. It was about 8:45 pm, which around here isn’t dark yet.
Just to paint the picture in your mind for those unfamiliar with our area. The two airports are about 7 miles apart and the main runways at both fields are aligned roughly in the same direction. The runway at Ellsworth, however, is much bigger, both longer and wider than the runway at the public airport. Because of the close proximity of the two fields, the Air Force provides approach and departure control to airplanes arriving at both airports. However, they have separate towers so once lined up for a landing the pilot switches frequencies and is talking to the appropriate tower for the final part of the approach and landing. Tower operators are supposed to confirm visual sighting of airplanes when conditions permit, but that doesn’t often happen. Responsibility for the location of the landing rests solely with the pilot.
The electronics carried in contemporary airplanes are far more accurate than seven miles.Even a small general aviation airplane carries a GPS with pinpoint accuracy. It isn’t a failure of the instruments or electronics. Landing on the wrong runway probably would never occur in bad weather or the middle of the night because the pilots would be focused on their instruments. What happens is that they switch to visual flight rules and land the airplane by hand when the weather is good and they have the airport in sight.
In the case of the commercial airliners, there are two pilots at the controls. One is doing the primary flying and the other is assisting and paying attention to details to double check all of the decisions and procedures. In order for the airliner to land at the wrong airport two pilots have to be making the same mistake at the same time.
It is a BIG oops! The pilots have been suspended pending an investigation. The last time it happened the pilots lost their jobs over the mistake. On Thursday night the 130 passengers and the crew sat on the ramp at the Air Force base with the window shades pulled down for 2 1/2 hours while calls were made, an investigation documented and negotiations were held to allow the airplane to take off and fly to the correct airport. The Air Force has specific procedures for such situations that are followed precisely. Passengers were, however, allowed to use their cell phones during the wait, so waiting families were aware of the situation. The delay was, to be sure, an inconvenience for the travelers, but there was no particular danger to passengers in the event.
Still, one has to ask what circumstances allow such a huge mistake. Missing another airport by seven miles means disaster, though the would not be looking at a perfectly safe runway in other circumstances and probably would catch their mistake earlier. I am sure that the airline pilots were properly trained and current on all of their requirements. I don’t know whether they had been fling into Rapid City many times before. It is possible that this was a first light into this particular airport for one or both of the pilots.
We are all capable of making mistakes. Fortunately many of those mistakes don’t result in serious injury. But there can be huge consequences to human mistakes. In the church we give a lot of thought and energy to examining how people get beyond their mistakes. We believe in the power of forgiveness to allow lives to resume and people to live fully. I’m confident that the pilots can be forgiven for their mistake. That may not, however, mean that they will get to keep their jobs.
I’m pretty sure neither of them ever heard the warning I received before my first flight into Rapid City as pilot in command. I wouldn’t even think of landing until I had both airports in sight and was confident about which one I was headed for. Then again I’m not an active pilot any more.
As it turned out, weather prevented my flight on that particular trip. In subsequent years I did fly into Rapid City in another airplane without incident. Most of my flying has been done in Montana, North Dakota and Idaho. There are large military operations areas in all three states and I leaned about paying careful attention to your location and the rules of flying in those areas. One time, when flying in North Dakota in the same rented airplane above a military operations area, air traffic control advised me that a B-52 would be passing below me a mille to the left of my flight path. Even at that distance, from my vantage point in my little two-seated Cessna, that airplane appeared Huge. I was just as glad that ATC had advised the B52 of my presence as I was that they told me about it. I must have just been a tiny speck from their point of view.
All of this is an introduction to an event that occurred Thursday night here in Rapid City. For the second time in the years I have lived in Rapid City a commercial airliner, bound for Rapid City Regional Airport, landed at Ellsworth Air Force Base. There were 130 passengers on flight 2845 from Minneapolis. It was about 8:45 pm, which around here isn’t dark yet.
Just to paint the picture in your mind for those unfamiliar with our area. The two airports are about 7 miles apart and the main runways at both fields are aligned roughly in the same direction. The runway at Ellsworth, however, is much bigger, both longer and wider than the runway at the public airport. Because of the close proximity of the two fields, the Air Force provides approach and departure control to airplanes arriving at both airports. However, they have separate towers so once lined up for a landing the pilot switches frequencies and is talking to the appropriate tower for the final part of the approach and landing. Tower operators are supposed to confirm visual sighting of airplanes when conditions permit, but that doesn’t often happen. Responsibility for the location of the landing rests solely with the pilot.
The electronics carried in contemporary airplanes are far more accurate than seven miles.Even a small general aviation airplane carries a GPS with pinpoint accuracy. It isn’t a failure of the instruments or electronics. Landing on the wrong runway probably would never occur in bad weather or the middle of the night because the pilots would be focused on their instruments. What happens is that they switch to visual flight rules and land the airplane by hand when the weather is good and they have the airport in sight.
In the case of the commercial airliners, there are two pilots at the controls. One is doing the primary flying and the other is assisting and paying attention to details to double check all of the decisions and procedures. In order for the airliner to land at the wrong airport two pilots have to be making the same mistake at the same time.
It is a BIG oops! The pilots have been suspended pending an investigation. The last time it happened the pilots lost their jobs over the mistake. On Thursday night the 130 passengers and the crew sat on the ramp at the Air Force base with the window shades pulled down for 2 1/2 hours while calls were made, an investigation documented and negotiations were held to allow the airplane to take off and fly to the correct airport. The Air Force has specific procedures for such situations that are followed precisely. Passengers were, however, allowed to use their cell phones during the wait, so waiting families were aware of the situation. The delay was, to be sure, an inconvenience for the travelers, but there was no particular danger to passengers in the event.
Still, one has to ask what circumstances allow such a huge mistake. Missing another airport by seven miles means disaster, though the would not be looking at a perfectly safe runway in other circumstances and probably would catch their mistake earlier. I am sure that the airline pilots were properly trained and current on all of their requirements. I don’t know whether they had been fling into Rapid City many times before. It is possible that this was a first light into this particular airport for one or both of the pilots.
We are all capable of making mistakes. Fortunately many of those mistakes don’t result in serious injury. But there can be huge consequences to human mistakes. In the church we give a lot of thought and energy to examining how people get beyond their mistakes. We believe in the power of forgiveness to allow lives to resume and people to live fully. I’m confident that the pilots can be forgiven for their mistake. That may not, however, mean that they will get to keep their jobs.
I’m pretty sure neither of them ever heard the warning I received before my first flight into Rapid City as pilot in command. I wouldn’t even think of landing until I had both airports in sight and was confident about which one I was headed for. Then again I’m not an active pilot any more.