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Oops.

WASHINGTON  — A Delta Air Lines jetliner with 130 passengers on board landed at the wrong airport in South Dakota Thursday evening, said a spokesman for the National Transportation Safety Board, which is investigating the incident. The Delta A320 landed at Ellsworth Air Force Base at 8:42 p.m. Central Time Thursday, when its destination was an…

WASHINGTON  — A Delta Air Lines jetliner with 130 passengers on board landed at the wrong airport in South Dakota Thursday evening, said a spokesman for the National Transportation Safety Board, which is investigating the incident.

The Delta A320 landed at Ellsworth Air Force Base at 8:42 p.m. Central Time Thursday, when its destination was an airport in Rapid City, board spokesman Peter Knudson said Friday.

Ellsworth is about 10 miles due north of Rapid City Regional Airport. The two airports have runways that are oriented nearly identically to the compass, from northwest to southeast.

via www.airforcetimes.com

On the other hand, the runways at Ellsworth are probably longer than at Rapid City.

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Responses to “Oops.”

  1. Stormy

    A very easy mistake to make. The runways are nearly parallel, and Ellsworth is the longer runway on what looks like the more substantial “airport” facility. Sitting in the jumps seat of a 707 I was tricked. Thank goodness the pilot knew where he was going.

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  2. SFC Dunlap 173d RVN

    Same thing in Texas years ago with. Naval or AF auxiliary runway mistaken for Corpus Christi (sp) Airport.

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  3. Quartermaster

    The same problem has happened at Smyrna (Old Sewart AFB) and Nashville. The pilots had to be really screwing up at Smyrna, however, as the Smyrna airport looks nothing like the Nashville International Airport.

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  4. Joey Jo Jo Jr.

    To further complicate things, civilian aircraft landed and took off at Ellsworth, for a couple of months in the 90’s, while the runway at RAP was being re-done… maybe someone had a flashback… 🙂

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  5. timactual

    Which is why close air support is best done low and slow by such as the A10 rather than F35 or B1.
    Had to say it.

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  6. SFC Dunlap 173d RVN

    Oh yes you did timeactual!! Nicely done.

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  7. dhmosquito

    In a way, I can see how the pilot screwed up. Ellsworth main RW is azimuth 130°-310° (RWs are labeled 13-31).
    Rapid City Regional main RW is azimuth 140°-340° (RWs are labeled 14-34).
    Prevailing winds are from NW most of the time. Same here at the house (20mi W).
    So the two runways are laid out almost exactly the same. The base and airport are 7 miles apart, with the base almost due N of the airport.
    Nevertheless, Ellsworth RW is 13497 feet long by 300 ft (!!!—a football field) wide. It was, as most readers here know, designed to handle RB-36 and B-52 aircraft.
    Rapid City Regional is 8701 feet long by 150 feet wide.
    I would think that the width alone would give the guy a clue.
    I was doing docent duty at the SD Air & Space Museum Friday and all appeared normal over at the base (immediately adjacent). Wind was from SE then, however.
    Last night a neighbor who works at the base said (so this is obviously hearsay) that the pilot was a month away from retirement. I would hope they cut him some slack.
    Nobody got hurt, the plane landed at Rapid City Regional a few hours later, and the base told passengers to lower window shades and send some APs come through the plane with holstered weapons and a sniffing dog. In any event, it’s not like the ’60s where uncleared people might have seen WR B28s being loaded.
    http://aeronav.faa.gov/d-tpp/1607/00877AD.PDF
    http://aeronav.faa.gov/d-tpp/1607/00343AD.PDF
    http://rapidcityjournal.com/news/local/delta-plane-mistakenly-lands-at-ellsworth-air-force-base/article_90acc03e-593c-57ba-99f2-50b8722f37e8.html
    cheerio, chuck

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