Plane lands at wrong airport and can't leave

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Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around a cargo plane that landed at the wrong airport and the challenges it faces in taking off due to a short runway and the absence of a control tower. Participants explore potential solutions and reflect on similar past incidents, considering both technical and situational factors.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory
  • Technical explanation
  • Debate/contested

Main Points Raised

  • Some participants suggest offloading cargo and taking off with a nearly empty fuel tank as a potential solution.
  • Others propose using Jet Assisted Take Off (JATO) or even a Sling Shot Assisted Take Off (SSATO) as more unconventional methods.
  • A few participants reference historical incidents where aircraft landed in unsuitable locations and discuss the feasibility of taking off from such sites.
  • Concerns are raised about the pilots' navigation skills, with some questioning how they could land at the wrong airport despite GPS technology.
  • There are mentions of the need for pilots to maintain manual flying skills and reduce reliance on automation, referencing comments made by Sully Sullenberger.
  • Some participants humorously suggest that the plane could be turned into a museum or that a longer runway could be built.
  • One participant notes that the plane was able to take off and reach its intended destination, referencing an updated news link.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants express a variety of opinions on potential solutions, with no consensus reached on the best approach. There are differing views on the implications of automation in piloting and the challenges faced in such scenarios.

Contextual Notes

Participants acknowledge that the situation is highly dependent on specific circumstances, and there are unresolved questions about the technical feasibility of the proposed solutions.

Who May Find This Useful

Individuals interested in aviation, emergency procedures, and the implications of automation in piloting may find this discussion relevant.

SW VandeCarr
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A massive cargo plane landed at the wrong airport and now can't leave because the runway is too short. The airport doesn't even have a control tower. What's the solution?

http://news.yahoo.com/dreamlifter-cargo-plane-wrong-airport-wichita-135024064.html
 
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I've wondered about this scenario before. It can't possibly be the first time this has happened, but the solution would have to be very situation-dependent.
 
Offload the cargo and takeoff with a nearly empty fuel tank.

Or, more fun: JATO!
 
Sounds like the classic crossing the river problem with a boat, cat, wolf, goat and cabbage.

http://www.mathcats.com/explore/river/crossing.html

Will probably need a dreamliner engineer to say how they can get enough lift on a short runway. Maybe they'll need to unload some cargo or all cargo and truck it to the original airport and maybe even some fuel. With a lighter plane maybe they can takeoff with a shorter runway.

They could also always build a longer runway or make the plane into a museum.
 
russ_watters said:
Offload the cargo and takeoff with a nearly empty fuel tank.

Or, more fun: JATO!

Even more fun: SSATO (Sling Shot Assisted Take Off) :biggrin:!
 
jedishrfu said:
They could also always build a longer runway or make the plane into a museum.
bold mine

Not just the plane, but the whole airport, unless they build a new runway.

russ_watters said:
Or, more fun: JATO!

Jet assisted take off?
 
It must have already left, it is not visible on Google Earth.
 
Borek said:
It must have already left, it is not visible on Google Earth.

Are you certain that Google Earth provides real-time imagery?
 
  • #10
SteamKing said:
Are you certain that Google Earth provides real-time imagery?

I think it was a joke (unless Google is using satellites).
 
  • #11
Google does use satellites (or, rather, buy the imagery). But I hope it was a joke...
 
  • #12
lisab said:
I've wondered about this scenario before. It can't possibly be the first time this has happened, but the solution would have to be very situation-dependent.

It happens from time to time, but usually it's less spectacularly newsworthy so we don't hear about it. A while back a C-17 trying for MacDill AFB in Florida landed at a general aviation field instead; even though the C-17 (like most military cargo carriers) is designed for STOL operations, the youtube videos suggest that the subsequent takeoff was... exciting, and not in a good way.

And of course there's the old saying that "Takeoff is optional, but landing is mandatory" - aircraft have been forced to land at very unsuitable fields after in-flight fires, mechanical failure, or fuel shortage. Usually someone finds a way of flying the plane out, but not always.
 
  • #13
russ_watters said:
Offload the cargo and takeoff with a nearly empty fuel tank.

Reduced fuel load? Yes, they only need to make the short hop to the intended destination and they burned a fair amount of fuel in flight already.

Offload the cargo? No so likely, it's an entire 787 fuselage section requiring custom-built and not especially mobile equipment to load and unload.
 
  • #14
Plan is to take off at noon local time, 39 minutes from when I click "post"
 
  • #15
lisab said:
I've wondered about this scenario before. It can't possibly be the first time this has happened, but the solution would have to be very situation-dependent.

I know of a Boeing 737-300 that had double engine failure, both flamed out, and landed on a narrow grass levee near New Orleans. There was no way to drive the airplane away, disassembling was not a great option either, so they ended up replacing one engine and repairing the other and impressively were able to take off from the levee and take the airplane to an airport.
http://lessonslearned.faa.gov/ll_main.cfm?TabID=1&LLID=40&LLTypeID=2

Just shows an unlikely scenario can be an option, isn't reducing its weight or making the runway a little longer the easiest way to go?
 
  • #16
Just forget about it, massive planes are a dime a dozen.
 
  • #17
The OP link has been updated -- the plane was able to take off and get to the correct airport:

http://news.yahoo.com/dreamlifter-cargo-plane-wrong-airport-wichita-135024064.html

.
 
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  • #18
Tower audio from the landing: https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F121174731&auto_play=false&show_artwork=true&origin=twitter
 
  • #19
nsaspook said:
Tower audio from the landing: https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F121174731&auto_play=false&show_artwork=true&origin=twitter

There seems to be a lot of talk on that link about Coordinates and several other of airports being close by.
 
  • #20
edward said:
There seems to be a lot of talk on that link about Coordinates and several other of airports being close by.


They had no idea where they had landed (how that's possible with GPS and landing aids is beyond me) on the glide path and were very lucky not to have crashing into another plane while landing and sitting in the middle of the runway. (a twin engine turboprop flew over the top of them during the confusion)

KIAB-GPS19L_zps91d56f5d.jpg
 
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  • #21
nsaspook said:
They had no idea where they had landed (how that's possible with GPS and landing aids is beyond me)
You still have to do the equivalent of programming the video recorder correctly :biggrin:
 
  • #22
AlephZero said:
You still have to do the equivalent of programming the video recorder correctly :biggrin:

Their manual skills are gone and now they can't operate a GPS. What happened to the old school pilots?



"What can happen to an Old Fashioned?"
 
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  • #23
russ_watters said:
Or, more fun: JATO!

Would you believe that was my very first thought?
 
  • #24
Sully Sullenberger mentioned pilots losing manual skills on the CBS news the day before this happened.

Pilots need more training, less dependence on automation ...

CBS News-Nov 20, 2013

"Instead, they get a more fundamental understanding on their own through ... He said that it's also important to recognize that pilots do not get ... the report specifically explains that "pilots have to not only have the skill, ... "Sleep issues are very important to pilots and air traffic controllers," Sullenberger said.

I can't get a link that works.:redface:
 

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